


Frozen: The Snow Queen

by mrjop2



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-16
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2018-01-04 19:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 46,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1084840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrjop2/pseuds/mrjop2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the wedding of Anna and Kristoff approaches, a darkness threatens to tear the sisters apart. Elsa learns that her powers may not be a freak accident after all. It appears that a sorceress may have played a part in her curse. This discovery sets of emotions that Elsa struggles to control, which in turns causes her powers to become unstable. This makes her contemplate wanting to find this witch who could very well help her control her powers, or even remove them from her forever. Anna, learning of this, decides to take the trek before Elsa can think about making it herself. All she wants is her big sister to be happy and free from fear that she had fought against for so long. Soon Arendelle is ensnared in new raging storm that threats the two sisters and all the people of this peaceful village. Ultimately, Elsa must make the decision: are these powers of hers a curse or a blessing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_The kingdom of Arendelle was one of the most beautiful kingdoms in the land. Rich in natural wonders and spectacular mountain landscapes; their wealth was the envy of many kingdoms. The Prince of Arendelle was a strikingly handsome young man, who was beloved by all the people of the kingdom. He was kind and gentle, and befriended many of the people. There was one young peasant girl that he became close friends with. The peasant woman was attractive, and she instantly fell in love with the young prince. However, he never reciprocated those feelings. To him, she would only be a good friend._

_Little did the prince know that this peasant woman was actually a sorceress? When she couldn’t win his heart, she decided to steal it. Using her dark magic, while the prince was not looking, she cast a love spell on him, to force him to fall in love with her. His heart towards her quickly began to change._

_One day, the prince’s parents threw a giant banquet for all the villagers to attend. Diplomatic dignitaries from many other nations were to be present. With the prince’s heart now stricken for the sorceress, the prince had all intentions of asking his parents’ permission to marry her, but before he had the chance, they introduced him to a beautiful princess from an allied kingdom. Upon seeing her beauty... the spell was broken, and it was love at first sight. Embarrassed and enraged, the deceitful sorceress went into hiding._

_Days turned to months, and soon the word would spread of the coming wedding of the prince and princess. When the sorceress heard of this, she vowed revenge on the royal family.  It was custom that at the wedding banquet, the people of the kingdom would shower the royal newlyweds with gifts, to the best that the can afford. She created a hand mirror. It was beautiful in appearance, fit for royalty, but in reality, it was a devil mirror. She cursed it with an icy spell. Upon looking upon her reflection, the princess’ heart would freeze. Over time, she would lead the kingdom to an icy grave._

_She disguised herself and attended the wedding banquet. When her turn came up, she presented the mirror to the princess. Before she could look at her reflection, a splinter from the handle pricked her, causing her to drop the mirror.  It shattered on the floor. Frantic to save her secret weapon, the sorceress went to pick up the pieces, but she, herself, slashed the palm of her hand upon one of the jagged pieces of glass._

_The pain caused her to accidently reveal her nature and true self to the prince. Emotionally hurt by the betrayal of his good friend, he and the royal family banished the sorceress from Arendelle... forever._

_The sorceress watched from afar, to see if the splinter would have any effect, but as time went on, the princess, showed no signs. As the years went by, the prince and princess went on, happily, to become the new king and queen. Soon, their first child was born, and they named her Elsa. Three years later, a second daughter was born... Anna._

_Everything appeared normal until the second child was born. Not long after her birth, Elsa’s powers revealed themselves when she went to visit her baby sister, in her crib. She touched the wooden crib, and the part of the crib she touched, turned to ice instantly. Sensing the work of dark magic, the frightened king and queen took their eldest daughter to the trolls. There, they revealed the curse that had been put on the queen. However, the spell had been distorted, and instead of infecting the queen, it infected her first born. They informed the queen, that their daughter’s heart would slowly turn to ice, and could grow up to one day destroy their kingdom in snow and ice... unless their love and guidance, could keep her heart warm._


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The People of Arendelle had begun a week of joyous celebration: Princess Anna was getting married this week. It was going to be a week long celebration leading up to the wedding ceremony and the wedding banquet and ball. That was how much the people loved their queen and princess.  People were dancing in the streets, decorating their homes, and singing in songs to celebrate this special time. The excitement in the kingdom was electrifying, which only intensified as the first ships arrived full of decorations for the wedding.

There was none more excited about this week than Elsa, the queen of Arendelle. When she received word that the ships have arrived, she threw open the double-doors to her stone balcony. “They’re here! Open the gates!”

It had been almost forever since she had ever been this happy. Her life, had been everything but joyous until recently. For the first time in forever, she had a positive outlook in life... and it felt GREAT!  She hardly knew how to handle this much joy. For the first time in a long time, she had found herself singing to herself. It was the only way she knew how to express how happy she was.

 

_"Open the gates, bring out the plates!_

_Joy is in the air, stronger than what I once had thought_

_Jubilation is at full swing, love has brought hope of eternal spring_

_Something that I was sure that I had forgot._

_As this celebration draw nears, I’ve not seen a hint of my past fears_

_This happiness that’s in me continues to grow, with no sign of slowing_

_Cursed by this power, that once forced me to cower_

_Now, I stand tall, with that part of me, forever closing.”_

_My sister's getting married; I've never been so excited_

_The bond between us has grown since we've been reunited._

_There is magic in the air_

_In the spring, the flowers bloom; in the fall, the leaves swoon_

_There is magic in the air_

_As sure as the seasons are always changing..._

_This joy, it feels so amazing!_

_Cause_

_There is magic in the air."_

 

Elsa watched from her stone balcony as the workers started unloading some of the flower arrangements from the ship's, through the gates, and into the town towards the castle. As they  made their way closer to the castle, Elsa ran back inside and raced for the main stairwell. Running so fast, she didn't think about how many stairs she had just ran down; for all she knew, there could have been several that she  skipped.

She ran for the castle gates, where there were two guards standing there. Upon seeing her reaching the ground level, they threw open the two-story, double, wooden gates. As she ran past the threshold, the first flower arrangements wear arriving to their destination. All around, the people stood aside and watch the decorations come through their town.

"Versa, they're here!"

"Coming, Your Highness, " a soft, airy, slightly panicked voice, within the castle, shouted in reply. A young, burnet came running, awkwardly, outside while fumbling with her checklist. She was the queen’s handmaiden, who was also proving to be a very good and trusted advisor. She immediately started checking off all the decorations on the list as they approached.

Three men were bringing the first decoration: a wedding arch covered in white silk from head to toe. Covering every possible inch, except for the feet, were a mixture of white Azaleas and white Lilly flowers, all intertwined with a single vine. At the top of the arch were two gold bells on top of a green and red bow. Elsa thought it was absolutely gorgeous, and it wasn't even the main arch. The main wedding arch was being chiseled out of white marble, here in town.

Following the wedding arch was a man, bringing in the first pot of white lotus flowers with red-fading-into-orange color at the base of the petals. She couldn't resist smelling them as they passed. The smell was heavenly. These were just the beginning, as she made sure to get even rarer and more exotic flowers.

A gentle tug on her icy-blue gown drew Elsa's attention downward. A young eight year old girl stood there, smiling sweetly up at her holding a single, violate flower in her hand. The mother nervously went to pull her little girl away, out of fear of her daughter not having properly addressed the Queen. Elsa smiled, to let the mother know that it was perfectly alright. She knelt down and graciously accepted the little girl’s gift. She took it and placed the stem behind her right ear. The girl was elated and ran to her mother's side.

Elsa chuckled as she stood up and made her way back into the castle; Versa had things well under control here. No longer did she make it back inside when she could feel the flower freezing solid. She took it out from behind her hear a looked upon it sorrowfully. She only took a second to mourn; she was too much in a good mood to let this get her down today.

Seeing all the decorations arrive, she became anxious to check on her wedding gift for Anna. She handed the frozen flower to a servant who had happens to be walking by at that very moment. He looked at it with a shocked look on his face before carrying it off.

Elsa raced to a special corridor on the bottom floor. It led to a recently constructed room that she had secretly ordered to be built. She took painstaking effort to keep Anna from knowing about it. When she reached the door, she gently swung it open and turned on the lights.

The lights dimly lit up the room, to reveal a thirty-five foot tall magical ice sculpture of Anna. It was beyond anything Elsa had ever accomplished with her powers. The sculpture was of Anna wearing a long, royal dress. She stood holding her hands in front of her in painstaking vivid detail. Her face was a near perfect replica of Anna's. Her expression was more serious than what the Real Anna usually displayed on her face, but it was a royal sculpture, not a family portrait. The sculpture was made of permanent ice. Inside the Crystal ice sculpture, you could see a a magical, snowy blizzard whirling, keeping the ice frozen. It was almost similar to what she did for Olaf so he didn't melt away, but the storm was inside the sculpture, and not outside, and the storm was much stronger in intensity. The blizzard-like conditions inside was the only thing that prevented the sculpture from melting.

"Uh, Your Highness?" Versa nervously entered the room, with her checklist still in hand. "We kinda have a small problem with the swans. They sorta—kinda—got loose from the owner and now a few of the children are chasing them around town."

It was as if Elsa hadn't even heard her as her focus remained on the sculpture. "Versa, do you really think Anna's going to like this?"

Versa looked up at the ice sculpture. "I think she's going to love it, Your Highness."

I don't know. I've never planned a royal wedding before. I shouldn't be the one doing this; my father should be. I really miss him."

Believe me, Your Highness, this is going to be a wedding that your sister and everyone in the kingdom are never going to forget."

Elsa smiled faintly as she turned toward her handmaiden.  "Talking about Anna, have you seen her around, lately?"

"Um, no, Your Highness, I haven't," she replied.

"That's alright, I have a feeling I know where she is," Elsa said. " Oh, and how's the project I gave  you coming?"

"Nearly complete, Your Highness," she answered proudly. "I've gotten up to the history of your parents."

Both Elsa and Anna missed their parents terribly. Having lost them three years ago at sea, neither of them ever really got to mourn with each other. They both lost pivotal lifetime memories and life lessons when they died so early and so abruptly. She thought Anna would love this little scrapbook-like gift with all the information about their parents and all those who came before. Completing it with a family tree would be the icing on top of the cake. Oh, only if their parents could be here to enjoy this occasion with them. "Very good."

Elsa turned to make her exit out of the chamber. "And don't fret over the swans. Everything will work out."

* * * *

Anna was in the personal library chamber, franticly pacing in a giant circle in the middle of the room. It was the one room, besides the upstairs’ corridor, that had the most pictures in one location; most of them were of her parents and their parents before them.  This was where she could be alone to talk to her parents. Right now, she needed to talk to them more than ever before.

“What am I going to do, Mom?”

 

_“Maybe it’s fear, maybe it’s not_

_Maybe It’s my breakfast starting to turn_

_It feels like my heart is tied in a knot_

_I don’t know if it’s something of concern_

_It’s only a week away; why am I having so much doubt_

_I thought it was love, but now, I’m not so sure_

_I thought I had my life all mapped out_

_Oh, Mom, please tell me there’s a cure._

_The day is on the horizon; the tension is rising;_

_The pressure is so great, Dad, I wish you could hear me crying!_

_There is panic in the air_

_My heart is racing and I can’t stop myself from pacing_

_There is panic in the air_

_So full of indecision and hesitation..._

_Maybe all I need is a little validation_

_Cause_

_There’s panic in the air”_

Anna temporarily ceased her pacing in front of the giant portrait of her parents. Her second form of nervous reflex started up, as she started playing with her right braided ponytail. “Mom... Dad... I really need your advice.” She stood there in front of the portrait for a moment, before she looked towards the portrait of her grandfather as if it had called out to her. “But, Papa, how do I know it’s true love?”

“Talking to the family again?” Elsa asked entering the chamber.

Spending a lifetime alone, not having anyone to play with or let alone talk to, Anna had picked up a habit of having conversations with the people in pictures.  Elsa felt a little guilty about that, because she had to separate herself from her as well. The only reason Anna was forced into seclusion was because she they lived in the same castle.  Since they’ve permanently opened the gates to the castle to the outside world, her habit remained only with the portraits of their parents and grandparents. When Anna and Kristoff became more serious, the amount of time she spent talking to those portraits decreased even more.

“Elsa, I don’t feel so good. My heart is beating uncontrollably, I can hardly breathe, and I feel sick to my stomach. I’m hyperventilating! I’m hyperventilating! I think I’m going to throw up! I’m GOING to THROW UP!”

“Anna, calm down. Take a deep breath!” she urged, approaching her baby sister. “You’re just a little nervous; everyone goes through this.”

“I’m not a coward, take that back!” Anna spun around and snapped.

Elsa stood still, not quite sure if that was meant to be geared towards her or to something that she pretended to hear from one of the portraits. Anna’s anger lasted less than five seconds before she moaned and nearly fell into crying. “OH... yes I am! I’m a terrible person!”

“Anna, get a hold of yourself. You’re not a terrible person; everyone is nervous when their wedding day approaches.  It’s perfectly normal.”

Anna wasn’t convinced. She was more confused than Elsa had ever seen her before. It was probably the side effect of losing both their parents at such a young age. She never had the talk with her mother about love and about boys. She only had the few books she probably read about the topic, and that usually wasn’t a good way to learn about this sort of thing. “How can it be normal? If this was true love, then I shouldn’t be so nervous! Besides, shouldn’t you be saying, ‘Anna, a princess should only matter a prince!’?” Anna said, doing a lousy impression of her. “Isn’t me marrying him against some kind of royal tradition?”

Elsa raised her right eyebrow and smiled. “Oh no, I’m not going to be responsible in helping you try to coward out of this. Sure, Kristoff is a little brazen, and lacks the royal demeanor, but his heart is just as noble as any prince out there. If you love him, then that’s good enough for me.”

“But how do I know he’s—THE ONE?”

“Well, the way you’ve been acting is one way,” Elsa laughed. “If you weren’t nervous, then I would be a little more concerned. Anna, trust me, what you have IS true love.  I guarantee you that he is just as nervous as you are.”

“Who, Kristoff?” Anna chuckled. “He helped me scale and descend a mountain, fight off an angry pack of wolves, and take on a snow monster. Believe me, nothing scares him.”

* * * *

“I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe! Sven, I think I forgot how to breathe!” Kristoff said as he grabbed hold of his reindeer’s head and stuck his face into his until his nose nearly touched his snout. The reindeer merely stared back at him with his eyes wide open in puzzlement.

“Maybe it’s just me, but I find breathing to be totally overrated,” Olaf said, throwing himself into the conversation.  “Look at me, I’ve never breathed a breath, and I’m perfectly happy!”

Kristoff looked down at him with condescending eyes. “That’s because you’re a snowman.”

“So?” Olaf had always been an overjoyed optimist to a point of being a bit annoying a lot of times. His intelligence was a definite handicap, but sometimes he did come up with something helpful. This was NOT one of those times.

“The future prince is not really having problems breathing,” The eldest Troll said, as he walked to the young man’s side and placed a hand on the leg.  His was known simply as Grand Pabbie. Despite how ridiculous Olaf’s comments could get, Pabbie always had a calm demeanor about him except for when it came to celebrations; then, he could be just as jubilant as any other stone troll. “Tonight is the shower banquet, and our young Kristoff is experiencing the jitters.”

“Wow, that sounds painful? Is it contagious?” Olaf asked, not even noticing Sven, behind him, stick his snout underneath his personal snow cloud and using his tongue to grab and eat the falling snow flakes. It was a special gift Elsa did for him when he began to melt after she thawed the eternal winter she inadvertently started. The little snowman held a special place in the women’s hearts since he looked exactly like the snowman they used to build as children before being separated.

“No, silly snowman. All that the young man needs is confidence.”

“Confidence? How am I supposed to be confident? I’m not royal, like Anna. We’re from two totally different worlds I’m a mountain man, who loves sleeping on the ground or on stacks of hey rather than a bed! I deliver ice blocks! Well, I used to, at least. She deserves to be with a prince. Besides, those tuxedos make me itchy!” Kristoff replied, scratching his thigh. Just thinking about the suit that he had to wear tonight made him uncomfortable.

“Every time you’re around her, do you have a desire to see her happy?” an elderly female troll asked, joining Pabbie in the conversation. Her name was Mammie.

“Of course,” he replied.

“Are you happy when you’re around her?” Pabbie followed up with a question of his own.

“Yes.”

“Does her flaws diminish your desire to be with her?” Mammie asked.

“Flaws? No, I wouldn’t call them ‘flaws’ per say.”

“Do your flaws cause her to recoil?”

“Again, what flaws?” Kristoff hated it when they pointed out his ‘flaws’. It was worse when they did so in front of ‘Anna’.

The two elder trolls looked at each other and nodded. “Three out of four isn’t that bad.”

“Wait, what?”

“Boy, what you have is true love. And when it’s true love, nothing else matters. You have already proven that to Anna; now, you must believe it in your heart.”

As strange as this whole conversation was, it was doing wonders for his nerves. There was no denying how he felt for her, and it was true... he was willing to deny his own happiness if it would make her happy, but right now, she needed him to be someone who will fight for her heart, not cower. He needed to prove that he could be the man that she needed him to be, and he was not going to let her down. “Actually, that really helps.”

“Does that mean you’re cured?” Olaf asked. “Hurray, we can have fun at the banquet! I always love a good party!”

“The Banquet!” Kristoff’s eyes widen. It was getting late, and the banquet would be starting soon. “We got to go, Sven!”

He jumped on Sven’s back and prepared to ride off. Feeling that he was abruptly ending his time with his ‘family’ he glanced back at the hundreds of trolls that gathered around. “I’ll be back soon!”

“And so will I!” Olaf said, waving his right, wooden arm.

As Sven took his first step to begin his run back to Arendelle, Olaf quickly hopped up and grabbed Svens tail.  As they stormed away into the forest, the small snowman was laughing as he was flapping in the wind. Mammie and Pabbie waved as they and all the trolls waved farewell to their adopted ‘son’.  When they were far enough away, the expression on Mammie’s face turned grave as she looked at Pabbie. “Did you see the images in his mind?”

The gentle smile on Pabbie’s face also turned dark. “I did.” Reading images in other people’s minds was a power that the kept to themselves; not even Kristoff know that they could see the images of his memories if they so chose. Most of the time, they never used this talent. They’ve only used it in keeping an eye on the Queen and her condition.

As he turned and walked, the crowds of trolls cleared a path. On the other side of the crowd was a small pond in the ground, with rocks that rimmed around its bank. Mammie followed him to this pond when he waved his hand. On the left side of the pond, an image of Elsa at her coordination ball appeared in the water. On the right, a more recent image of Elsa appeared. In this image, she was ice skating with her people in the court yard that she had turned to ice.

A tiny troll child walked up to the pond to see the two images of the queen of Arendelle. Everyone who could see the pond gasped, and even the child could see the difference between the images. “Her hair is getting whiter!”

Pabbie nodded gently, not pulling his eyes from the images in the water. “Her powers are not leveling off as I had hoped. They’re increasing to dangerous levels.”

“So the Queen, the Princess, our Kristoff, and everyone in Arendelle are in grave danger?” 

“Impossible to tell. I had hoped by erasing Elsa’s and her parent’s memories, they would be protected, but it appears that I was wrong. The time has come for the truth to be made known.”


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The castle was full that night for the banquet and ball. Everyone had arrived, including a few dignitaries from allied countries who decided to come for the entire week of celebration. There wasn’t an empty seat in the room. As the time for official start of the banquet had arrived, it was custom for the queen and the princess to be the last one to enter the room so all may show the proper respect. 

Elsa was in the royal room, the chamber next to the banquet hall, and was the first one ready. She expected the next one to be Anna, but was surprised when Kristoff entered the room, dressed in his white and gold royal prince suit. As he entered the room, he was tugging at his collar as if it was chocking him. “Wow, you clean up very nice,” Elsa said with a chuckle. 

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Kristoff replied, as he went from tugging at his collar to rolling his shoulders. He really was uncomfortable in that suit. “Is this suit supposed to cut off the blood circulation to my entire body?” It took everything Elsa had not to laugh. 

As he fidgeted with his suit, the sound of footsteps tapping echoed into the room. They looked up at the top of the staircase to see Anna nervously walking down. The moment Kristoff looked up at her, his jaw dropped, and his eyes were instantly glued to her. She wore a beautiful sparkling green ball gown. The green skirt nearly skimmed the floor. The glittering designs looked like ocean waves curling in random directions. A black, silk, gown belt wrapped around her waist and formed a large bow behind her. The gown was strapless, and was completed with lighter green wedding gloves which went up just shy of her elbows and was laced with crystals forming an exotic design. For the first time that Kristoff could remember, she wore large diamond earrings and a royal diamond necklace with a green jewel in the middle. Her hair was braided into a bun behind her head. Her face looked like had gone through at least hours of beautification with make up; the bluish-green eye shadow on her eyelids were impossible to ignore. 

As she reached the halfway point of the staircase, she noticed them staring at her. She quickly reached behind her head and fiddled with her bun. “What? Did my hair come loose?”

“Whoa!” Was the only thing Kristoff could think of saying. He was completely at a loss for words.

“You look stunning,” Elsa said proudly. 

When she realized that nothing was out of place, she finished her way down the steps. Kristoff raced to meet her at the bottom step where he took her hand down the final step. “You look beautiful!” 

“Thank you,” Her pale, freckled cheeks turned red. She managed a faint smile before her nervous look returned. 

He noticed her nervousness almost immediately. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. After being lonely in this castle for so long, I thought I would enjoy this more. I don’t know why I feel so nervous.” Having been locked in the castle with no one to talk to but the paintings, she had always been hungry for the gates to be open. When they WERE open, she became overexcited about finally being able to meet new people and perhaps find true love. Of course, that led to her engagement to a prince after knowing him only for a half a day. That was an action that was done more out of fear of being locked away again, not out of true love. The stone trolls helped her understand that. 

Now, the gates were permanently open, and she was no longer the lonely girl secluded in the tower. She could have all the fellowship and attention she wanted; she even found that true love that she had desired. Tonight, ALL the focus and attention was on her as the Princess of Arendelle who was getting married. She didn’t know if she was that comfortable with THAT MUCH attention on her.

“Uh, Your Highness?” Versa nervously peered into the room from the banquet hall. When Elsa didn’t show any signs of anger of being interrupted, she cautiously entered the room and closed the door behind her.

“What is it, Versa?” Elsa asked.

She made her way towards the queen so she could talk to her in private. “Your Highness, we really need to talk about what I found out while working on the project. I found something, very alarming.”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” Elsa replied, holding up a hand. “We have a large crowd of hungry people waiting for us.” 

Elsa walked up to Anna and Kristoff. Anna couldn’t help notice the nervous look on Versa’s face. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything is great. Let’s not keep the people waiting.”

* * * *

The Banquet Hall was one of the biggest rooms in the castle, and the most colorful as well. There were three crystal chandlers that lit up the entire room. There were three banquet tables set up. One small one for royal family placed horizontally at the end of the room, and two very long tables, vertical to the royal table to form a U-shape. These two tables stretched as far as the room did. The right table had visiting national dignitaries from other kingdoms and nations where were there for the whole week. The other table had people from the town who have been screened and accepted by the queen. 

Versa sat closest to the royal table on the left banquet table. Upon rejection of her request to speak with the queen, she had no choice but to take her seat, now that she, the princess, and the future prince of Arendelle were ready to enter the room. Everyone was now standing on their feet as one of the workers began to introduce the royal family. “Now entering... Queen Elsa, queen of Arendelle!

Elsa entered the room with a smile on her face. There was a respectful round of controlled applause that lasted until she had taken her seat in the first of three spots at the royal table. “Now entering... Princess Anna and Sir Kristoff: the future prince of Arendelle.”

Anna and Kristoff walked through the doors and into the room and stopped almost immediately. Every eye was towards them. Many people gasped at how beautiful the princess looked. Some of the eyes were also on Kristoff. Here was a man that was just like all of them: A commoner with no royal blood in his veins. The people approved him, and were more than willing to accept him as prince. After all, he had saved her life. 

Feeling the eyes of everyone in the room, his suit felt like it was starting to choke him again. “This is a little awkward.” Kristoff was costumed to being ignored. He was never a people person. In fact, he never really liked people at all. He had been happy being alone with Sven, and limiting human contact to the times where he just delivered blocks of ice. He never imagined how things would change so quickly.

“Totally,” Anna agreed. Yes, she was a princess, but she was never brought up very princess-like. She was not used to wearing royal gowns. She never had that chance to learn about royal traditions and how to act like a princess. She had been secluded from the people of the town, and before she had the chance to learn all of that, her parents were lost at sea. Versa had helped her learn many of things she needed to know.

The two of them continued to their seats at the table. Anna sat down next to her sister, and Kristoff sat on the side of Anna. Now that the royalty had taken their seats, everyone was allowed to sit down and the food to be served. 

Versa could not get the information out of her head. What she discovered, the queen needed to know as soon as possible. As the butlers, waiters, and waitresses started handing out the plates, her attention was drawn towards the queen’s hair. The queen always had a very light blonde hair, but as of recently, Versa noticed the streaks of white hair. The color difference was so minimal, that it was quite easy to miss, but she saw it. As the queen conversed with Anna, Versa watched as more strands of hair magically faded to white. 

After seeing the change with her own eyes, she knew that this news could not wait until tomorrow. She discreetly slid her chair back and cautiously approached the Queen, crouching down, trying to limit any attention she might bring. “You’re Highness, I really have to speak with you. I don’t think this can wait,” She whispered.

Elsa raised an eyebrow out of annoyance. “Not now, Versa!” She whispered back. “This is my sister’s time. Please, take your seat.”

She did as ordered, and discretely took her seat. Telling the queen during the banquet was not going to happen, but she couldn’t give up. She had to be made aware of what she discovered, and the fact that her hair was turning white, only validated what she found and the importance of it.

* * * *

Everyone had eaten, and now, the ball had begun. Everyone moved to the ballroom. There were couples already dancing on the polished wood floors, and those that were not dancing enjoyed conversations. Elsa never danced, and it wasn’t because she was the queen. Dancing still concerned her because it took human contact, and with her powers, dancing could be something she may never enjoy. She didn’t mind though; she enjoyed watching her little sister stumbled her way through the dance floor. She also spent time talking to some of the royal dignitaries from other countries and some of the towns people.

Kristoff was standing on the platform with Elsa watching as Anna was dancing with everyone but him. He couldn’t help but get a little flustered over it. Granted, he wasn’t a great dancer, but she was still HIS bride to be. Elsa stood there, and couldn’t help but see his frustration. “Relax, it’s tradition for the princess to dance with some of the national dignitaries and men of the town.”

“Sure, I’m relaxed,” he replied, tugging at his collar.

They watched as Anna danced with another diplomat who had asked to dance with her. She accepted, and as they danced, it wasn’t long before she accidentally stepped on his toes. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” she gasped.

Having seen the incident, which by Kristoff’s count made five in the last hour, couldn’t suppress a smile. “Well, that makes me feel a little better.”

Elsa chuckled. “She’s never been very light on her feet.”

As Anna continued to dance with other dignitaries, Kristoff found himself getting bored. Occasionally, he had to talk to a dignitary, but he got the feeling that they didn’t view him the same way the people did. The people of the town were very eager to meet him. 

“So, how have your dancing lessons gone?” Elsa asked.

“Okay, I suppose. Why?”

“Because you’re next.”

Anna had completed her dance and looked towards Kristoff with a warm smile on her face. He made his way to her. “May I have this dance?”

“Yes, you may, fine gentleman.” He took her right hand in his left, and put his right hand on her back, just as he had learned to do in his lessons. Her left hand went up to his shoulder and the two of them began to dance. “So, are there any toes left you haven’t stepped on?”

“Ha ha,” Anna said, returning his playful sarcasm. 

Elsa watched them danced, only to, once again, be interrupted by Versa. “Your Highness, I beg your indulgence, but this may be very important.”

“Versa! Do you even know how to have fun, anymore?” Elsa said, slightly emphasizing the annoyance in her voice.

“You’re Highness, haven’t you noticed that your hair is getting whiter?”

“My hair?” Elsa had a very light-blond hair, which was not normal in the family. Her father had brown hair and her mother had more of a brownish-red hair. Anna had a reddish hair with a streak of blonde due to the accident as a child where Elsa blasted her in the head with a frost blast. No one in the family had blonde hair, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch to assume that her hair was this color because of her powers.

As of late, she’d been feeling as if these powers were getting stronger; there would have been no way she could have created that ice sculpture if they hadn’t. She hadn’t truly lost control of her powers since learning how to manage them, but there have been an increasing number of times it felt like she was at war against herself. She’d been keeping this to herself, so not even Versa or Anna knew, but this battle within her had only been getting worse. If what Versa was saying was true, perhaps her secret war raging in herself wasn’t so secret as she had thought. 

“Your Highness, this is your father’s journal. You need to read this,” she handed her a book.

“Journal? I never knew my parents had a journal?” She took the diary in her hand and held it almost in reverence. There was no describing the feeling of holding something so personal that belonged to her father. These were his very own thoughts and words, most she probably never heard before. She looked up towards Anna who continued to dance with Kristoff. This discovery would mean even more to her baby sister. 

“I found it hidden in the library. It ends abruptly, shortly after the princess was born. It was as if he forgot that he owned the journal.” Versa said in way that told Elsa that this was puzzle that she couldn’t solve. “It’s the very last post that you need to read.”

She couldn’t help but be a little nervous about reading it. It would be like the voice from the dead coming back to life. Working up the courage, she opened it up to the final entry and commenced reading it. It was an emotional read, to say the least. It was written shortly after Anna was born. It appeared that there was ANOTHER time that she had accidentally killed Anna. She nearly froze Anna’s crib with her still in it. She didn’t know what was more starting: the fact that she nearly froze her to death in the crib, or the fact that she didn’t remember it ever happening. 

The more she read, the more unnerved she became. Deeply entrenched in the read, Elsa didn’t realize that it started to flurry over her head. Versa noticed it and quickly backed away from her. It was then she realized that perhaps having her read it in front of this many people was probably a bad idea. The flurry was quickly intensifying. When she read the last two lines, she was in sudden shock. The flurry overhead disappeared and large, jagged icicles shot up from the ground in a small radius around her.

She suddenly realized that her powers had escaped her control for a brief second and when she saw what she did, she also notice the stunned looks on everyone’s face. None were more stunned than Anna’s. Else closed the journal, and cleared her throat as she tried to collect herself. “My apologies. Please excuse me.” She made her way out of the ballroom.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The moment the doors to the ballroom slammed shut, she hugged her father’s journal to her chest as she ran down several corridors until she arrived at the throne room. This was where the main throne was, but she also found solace here because of the portraits of past kings and queens that were in there, including her favorite portrait of her father at HIS coronation.  

Slamming the door shut, she only kept the room dimly lit so she could see, and perhaps keep those on the outside from knowing that she was inside.  She needed to be alone, especially in this emotional state that she was in. She had the whole run to think about what she had just learned, and a growing part of her was furious. 

She tried to calm herself by using the journal almost like a security blanket, but it wasn’t helping. Walking to the throne, she gave one last attempt and just glared down at this priceless treasure in her arms. She put the book on the seat of the throne and turned away just in time as a wave of rage inexplicably overtook her. She violently waved her right arm, and seven ice spears made of nothing but sharp icicles shot out like spears and pierced the ground. Breathing heavily, there was a sparkle of an icy-blue glow radiating from her eyes for a few seconds before they returned to normal. Her rage was gone just like that. She couldn’t explain why she was angry; as disturbing as the news was, it wasn’t anything that would normally get her angry.

The fact that her rage happened only confirmed what she read about, while it explained the struggle that’s been going on inside of her. And the worst thing was: she couldn’t help but feel that she was destined to fail her parents. And if she’s predestined to fail, then she already had.  

Elsa looked up at the portrait of her father hanging on the wall.

 

_All of my life, I have worked hard to strive_

_To be the good little girl that I was always raised to be_

_Walking a thin line, teetering on the edge of fear_

_All I have ever wanted was just to be free_

_But a war wages in me, and I feel myself losing control_

_I can’t help feel like I am losing my soul_

_Is there a way through this darkness_

_Can I escape the storm that rises_

_Can anyone stop this uncertainty_

_I just can’t contain this anxiety._

_Must I be the one... the one who breaks your heart_

_And watch it all just fall apart!_

_Must I be the one... to watch your kingdom fall_

_Must I be the one... to disappoint you one last time_

_Don’t know if my heart can withstand this crime._

_Must I be the one... to allow all these things to befall_

_Must I be the one_

_So full of feeling that I must keep inside_

_Or else this raging storm will come crashing down on me_

_Yet, as I feel my heart, in me, grow colder_

_I feel an uncontrollable rage burning to break free_

_Must I be the one... the one who will watch the world burn_

_And smolder to the point of no return!_

_Must I be the one... to unleash this curse upon the land_

_Must I be the one... to disappoint you one last time_

_There’s too much at stake to just give in_

_Emotions continue to boil deep within_

_Is there hope, any hope left in me at all_

_Is there something, in me, that I can enthrall_

_Can I be the one...  the one who stands and make you proud_

_And fulfilled all the she had once vowed._

_Can I be the one... the one who rules with wisdom and love_

_That flies high in the sky like a dove_

_Can I be the one... the one with a heart warmer than the sun_

_Can I be the one..._

_Can I be the one..._

_Can I be THAT one..._

_Must I be the one_

“Elsa?” Anna called, sticking her head into the room. The first thing she saw, entering the room, was the ice spears piercing the floors. Walking carefully around the ice, she slowly approached her older sister, who was sitting on the throne platform step.

Elsa refused look up. “Anna, please stay away. It’s not safe...”

“No,” Anna replied forcefully. She had never spoken with such force before, and it instantly caught Elsa’s attention. “You’ve tried protecting me by keeping me at arm’s length, but I think we’ve determined that that doesn’t work... for either of us. Things only got better when you let me in. Elsa, please, let me in!”

Elsa sighed, and looked away. It was hard to keep what she was going through from Elsa, but it was even harder to open up to her.  Three times, she had nearly killed her sister because she had lost control of her powers; letting her in was something that went against every grain of her fiber.  It was hard to flip off that over-protective-sister switch in her psyche. “Versa found Dad’s journal hidden in the library chamber.” She pointed to the large book on the seat of her throne.

“Whoa, Dad had a journal?” Anna said excitedly as she raced to pick up the book, but once it was in her arms, she showed the same kind of nerves about opening it Elsa had.

“I read the final entry in the book. It would appear that I WASN’T born with these powers like Mom and Dad said.”

“What?” Anna opened the book to the last journal entry and read through it.

“My powers are a result of a curse.”

“Oh... ok... uh... we don’t know that for certain. It appears Dad didn’t know for sure.”

Elsa stood to her feet and slowly walked to the window, with her arms folded in front of her as if she was feeling a little chilly. “There was always a part of me that knew, but to have this nagging feeling confirmed...”

Anna closed the book and returned it back onto the seat of the throw. “Okay, so what if this is a curse? You’ve got this thing licked! You’ve learned how to control it.” She went to try to put a comforting hand on her back, but Elsa was quick to step aside to avoid being touched.

“It’s not that easy, Anna,” Elsa replied. She didn’t want her to know of the war that was still raging in her heart. The last thing she wanted was to worry her younger sister. Even now, she felt a very intense freezing sensation from her chest and with it a desire to vent out feelings she never knew she had. She may have found control of her powers, but for some reason, it was getting harder to control her emotions; she suspected that this curse had something to do with that. “You have no idea what it’s like.”

Anna was looking curiously towards her, knowing that her older sister was holding back information from her. Yet, she had to look at this as the first step of an improved sisterly relationship. Some old habits were going to be hard to kill. “Whatever you’re worried about, we’ll get through this together. If you’re that concerned about it, let’s go talk to Grand Pabbie.”

Perhaps it was a little frustration towards the trolls for deceiving her, but she really had no desire to go see them. Maybe it was fear of what they would say. One thing was sure; she couldn’t allow Anna to give up her life just so she can always be there for her. Elsa would never forgive herself if that happened. This wedding was going to usher a new life for her baby sister; she was not going to allow that to be ruined. “No, I’ve been dealing with this on my own this long, and will continue to do so.  You’ve got your own life starting, now. I’m not going to ask you to spend the rest of your life taking care of me.”

“Elsa...”

“No!” Elsa said firmly. The firmness in her voice wasn’t nearly as startling to Anna as was seeing a slight icy glow in her eyes when she said it. Elsa quickly regained her composure and that icy glow disappeared. “I’m sorry. This week is for you, and I’ll have nothing stand in the way it.  As long as you are happy, then I will be happy, and everything will be fine. So please, go back to the ball and enjoy yourself. Allow me some time to get my emotions in check.”

Anna knew that she could not push her sister anymore. There was no doubt, now, that there was more that was not being told. As much as her sister tried to sound like herself after that small outburst, there was something very icy about her. Whether it was brought on by the revelation from their father’s journal or not, something was wrong with Elsa.

She couldn’t blame her about the fear she was now feeling. That journal entry rocked Anna as much as it did her. To find out that some witch had possibly tried to curse their mother, only to have the curse be redirected towards Elsa was a very disturbing thought. Their father seemed to believe that Elsa’s powers emanated from that moment in the time, but he wasn’t completely sure. He was going to go somewhere to get some answers, but that was where the next page in the journal came into play. THERE WAS NO PAGE! It looked like the page had been torn from the book, so she had no idea who her parents went to. She had to assume it was the trolls, but Grand Pabbie had been so adamant in claiming that Elsa was born with these powers, and not cursed with them. Something did not add up, and Anna could not accept not knowing the truth. If Elsa was not willing to seek out the truth, then she was going to have to do it for her. She could not be happy unless she knew, without a doubt, that her sister would be alright.

“Okay,” Anna said reluctantly and remorsefully exited out of the chamber. As soon as she closed the door behind her, she ran as fast as she could in her high-heel dress slippers. She had nearly slipped and knocked over a priceless stone head statue on the way, but she had managed to regain her balance. As she approached the ball room, there were a handful of people outside the chamber reminiscing amongst themselves. One of the castle workers opened the door for her. She ran into the ballroom and found Kristoff talking to some of the people in the room.

When he saw her entering the room, he was quick to rush to meet her. “How’s the queen?”

“Kristoff, we’ve got to go see Grand Pabbie.”

“What? Right now? What’s going on, Anna?”

Anna didn’t know where to begin. She was so worried for her sister, that it was hard for her to get one coherent and complete thought across her mind. “I’ve got questions that need answering. I think Elsa may be in trouble.”


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kristoff could not imagine what the problem could possibly be, but even he knew that the two of them could not just sneak out of a ball that was in their honor. Anna did not want her sister to know, so it made even less sense to do so. They would have to bide their time, let the rest of the night play out, and then when everyone else had gone to bed, sneak out to visit his ‘family’. Anna could not, or would not, speak of what had her so concerned until they were alone on their journey. 

At the late hours, the ball had officially come to an end, though for Anna, it appeared to be over much earlier. As much as she tried to feign being the cheerful, optimistic bride-to-be, her heart was just not into the celebration. When the lights were off through most of the castle, Anna sneaked out of the Princess’ chamber. She tip toed through the corridor towards the main stairwell. 

“Hey Anna, where are you going?” Olaf startled Anna, with his loud question as he appeared seemingly out of nowhere. 

Anna squealed, as she grabbed her after receiving the scare. “Olaf, You scared me! Shush!” she rebuked in a whisper, using hand signals to further stress the point. “Kristoff and I are sneaking out to go see Grand Pabbie and the trolls.”

“Oh really! I just love hanging out with those guys!” Olaf shouted, dancing on his little snowballs of feet. 

Anna clenched her teeth in fear of someone hearing Olaf and again waved her arms to silence him. “Be quiet! This is supposed to be a secret.”

“Oh, a secret trip!” he said even more excitedly, but this time managed to finally get the point and whisper his excitement. “So why the secret?”

She looked down the other side of the corridor towards the Queen’s chamber. “I don’t want my sister to know. It’s kind of a like a surprise gift for her.”

“Of course, silly me!” Olaf laughed softly. “It’s your wedding! Of course it’s custom for the bride-to-be to buy gifts for everyone! Oh, I’m not supposed to know that, am I? I promise to be surprised when you get me my gift.”

Anna smiled and shook her head. Once again, he got his logic a little mixed up, but she wasn’t going to correct it, not now at least. Satisfied that she had feed enough of the snowman’s curiosity, she ran down the master stairwell only to have Olaf follow close to her heels. “Olaf, where are you going?”

“I thought we were going to see the Fam? Why, did you already go without me?”

She let out a soft sigh. There was no choice but to take him along with them. “Oh, Kristoff is going to like this. Oh, ok, come on, let’s go.”

Anna and Olaf sneaked out of the castle and made their way to the stable. There, Kristoff had prepared the Sven and the sleigh for their trip to visit the trolls. She could hear him having his imagined conversations with Sven as they reached the stable. She quietly entered through the stable doors. 

Kristoff looked up, having just finished hooking Sven up to the sleigh when he saw Olaf following close behind her. “So much for keeping this a secret.”

Olaf laughed as he walked up to him as if he had a secret to tell him. “Don’t worry about, I told Anna that I’d act surprise when you two give me my wedding gift.”

“Wha?” He looked over to Anna for an explanation on what the funny little snowman was talking about. She shrugged as to say ‘just roll with it.’

“Just to say: I so hope it’s a red scarf! I don’t know why, by maybe a little more color would complete me.” Olaf hobbled over to Sven who looked at him with upbeat eyes. He put his two tiny wooden hands on his large snout. “Hey Sven! I got your nose! I got your nose!”

“Don’t do that,” Kristoff said dryly. He was very fond of his reindeer, and he didn’t like anyone messing with him. It took awhile for him to warm up to Anna fussing with him. He was much slower in accepting Olaf’s fussing with him. After all, Sven was more than just a reindeer; he was a trusted companion who deserved a little respect. It drove him crazy whenever someone tried talking to his companion in baby talk; it was like he was being insulted as well.

“I got your nose! I got...” Sven couldn’t resist the temptation any longer. He grabbed Olaf’s carrot nose and with his teeth, and sucked it into his mouth. Olaf gasped in horror as the reindeer smirked at the stunned snowman.

Kristoff sighed, knowing this was going to be a long trip, now that Olaf was going with them.” Sven, give him back his nose.”

Sven appeared to had full intentions of doing so anyway, as he gently put the carrot back on the snowman’s face where it belonged. Once again giddy, Olaf laughed. “You’re such a silly reindeer!”

“So much for a quiet trip,” Kristoff said looking towards Anna.

She returned his complaint with a look of light rebuke on her face. “Be nice.”

****

The sleigh had been outfitted to be able to slide without snow, since the snowy season was still a month or two away. However, it proved to be very tricky to leave the castle and out of the surrounding town without making too much noise. Once they made it to the grassy mountains, the trip became a breeze. 

With life now behind them, Kristoff managed to get Anna to tell him why they needed to make this trip at this late in the night. She filled him in about what happened after she ran after her sister. “Wow,” was the first thing he could think about saying after hearing the whole story. “I have to admit, I’m not TOO surprised to hear this. I mean, no one just wakes up with these magical powers out of thin air.”

“I suppose,” Anna replied.”But still, to learn it this way was very unsettling, and to learn that Mom and Died lied...”

“I see,” Kristoff said solemnly. “I can see how that would hurt.”

“It does, but that’s not important right now. I think there’s something wrong with Elsa... I mean REALLY wrong. I looked into her eyes and I saw... emptiness.”

“Emptiness?”

It was like Anna was reliving that moment and the look on her face clearly showed that she was and had been unnerved. “For that briefest second, there was nothing but coldness in her eyes.”

Kristoff didn’t know what to say. There was no way for him to really to gauge the seriousness of the situation. Anna knew her sister the best, and if she felt something was wrong, then he was all the confident that the situation was just as bad as she feared. He wanted to assure her that everything would work out, but the truth was that he couldn’t. He couldn’t assure that Grand Pabbie could do anything but explain what was happening. Right now, she probably already knew all that, but just needed to hear him say things would be okay. “I’m sure Grand Pabbie can do something.”

****

After an hour of the journey, they had finally arrived. Stopping the sleigh early, Kristoff climbed off the sleigh first, and like the perfect gentleman, he took her hand and helped her down. Olaf didn’t need help of any sorts. He leaped out of the back of the sleigh and ran ahead in excitement. Kristoff and Anna held hands as they followed the jolly little snow man over the small hill. Down below were hundreds of multi-sized boulders in an area that looked more like the ruins of an old stone temple that the forest had overtaken. 

Olaf already started talking to one of the boulders. Anna wondered if he could tell which boulder was which troll. Kristoff knew just by the shape and size, and she always marveled about that. She couldn’t come close to doing the same. As they got farther into the heart of the area, the boulders came to life and became trolls that were no more than a foot tall. Everyone one was ecstatic and celebratory as they surrounded them. “Kristoff’s back!”

Most of the trolls were so identically similar, that it was impossible for Anna to tell them apart. The only one that really stood out among them was Grand Pabbie. One final stone came rolling towards the two of them, and the rest of the trolls split up to make room for the elder. He revealed himself from his rock state and wobbled towards them. He went right towards Anna. “Princess Anna, it is so good to see you again, and looking quite healthy.”

Anna smiled down. “Thank you! I wish I could say this was just a social visit, but...”

“But something’s happened,” He replied as if he had expected something to have happen by now. “It just so happens, I’ve been wanting to talk to you as well. 

Anna described everything that had happened that night, and he listened intently, but showed no signs of being surprised by anything that she said. When she finished telling her story, the elder troll simply nodded. “It’s as I feared then. The curse is growing.”

“I thought Elsa was born with these powers,” Anna replied. Elsa said that their parents told her that, but she had no memories of any of it. Her own memories were removed by Grand Pabbie when she was a child, so she only had her sister’s comments to go on.

“I’ve had to erase your parents and your sister’s memories in order to get them to believe this. Have I known that he had written of these events, I would have tried to take the book. Your parents brought Elsa to us when you were just born. That was when her powers first manifested. Your father told me about a witch and what she tried to do with a mirror. I knew right then that he was talking about a devil’s mirror.”

“What’s a devil’s mirror?” Kristoff asked.

“It is form of curse meant to freeze the heart slowly. Somehow, the curse got transferred to the first born instead of the mother,” The elder troll replied.

Anna couldn’t believe that someone would actually try to hurt her parents in this way. She looked to Kristoff who sat beside her. Seeing the distress in her eyes, he grabbed and gently held her hand. “This is so surreal,” she said barely over a whisper.

“I had no choice to remove the memories of the witch and our first encounter in order to convince Elsa that this was NOT a curse. I knew if she ever believed that she was cursed, it would only make it impossible for her to control those powers. And until now, it seemed to have worked. At first it was your parent’s guidance that helped her keep the curse at bay, and then it became the love you two share. However, now that she has learned the truth, I fear that the curse will only speed up now.”

“But she’s controlling her powers,” Anna replied, praying that she found some way to disprove what she was hearing. She had just gotten her sister back, she wasn’t willing to lose her now.

“Yes, true love thaws, but self-depreciation and self-loathing are the quickest paths to a frozen heart. You cannot have true love if you have disdain for yourself.”

“So Elsa is going to turn to ice, like...” Anna couldn’t finish that thought. The memory of what happened to her was not something she cared to dwell on. Knowing that it might happen to her sister was even worse.

“No, it’s different for someone who is cursed. She will not turn to ice, but she would become cold and heartless. She would be full of rage, and easily provoked to cause violence. There will be no love in her heart. She will cease being the woman you know, and will become an ice witch.” 

“An ice witch?” Kristoff heard stories from the other ice masters and pickers that he had occasionally worked for. It was a popular folk lore among the men about an ice witch, with the powers to bring eternal winters on the land. Though the witch was supposedly very beautiful, she was known to be very cruel. He had always just dismissed it is as a child’s fairy tale. He never told Anna these stories due to fear that it was an insult of her sister. Now, after hearing this, he didn’t know what to think.

“Nothing is for certain, but if she can’t hold back the curse, she could bring destruction upon the land, and would not be able to tell the difference between friend and foe.”

Upon hearing that, Anna needed support from Kristoff more than ever. To think that her sister can become a monster like that... it was worse than the other possible outcome of Elsa turning into ice. Anna found herself trembling and unable to stop herself. He continued to hold her hand with one hand, and placed his other on her back, hoping she could find some comfort with his touch. “Is there anything you can do?”

“This curse is beyond my ability to cure,” Grand Pabbie replied with a shrug. “This is a battle that only your sister can fight.”


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Anna’s head was still spinning by everything Grand Pabbie had revealed to her last night. The worst thing about it was: knowing that there was nothing she could do, directly, to help. It appeared that all she was going to be able to do, was to be there with her sister, and try to keep her happy. Giving up on Elsa was the farthest thing from her mind; she had always been an optimist, probably even to a fault. Maybe she could help her sister overcome the demons inside of her.

As Elsa had her blindfolded and leading her to something that she was excited to show her, her fears for her sister were placed on hold. Elsa was so happy about this wedding; Anna wondered if she had only imagined what she had seen in her eyes the night before. Perhaps her imagination was playing a trick on her. There was no way someone this happy could be in as perilous of a situation as Grand Pabbie had described. 

“Elsa, where are you taking me?” Anna asked. She knew that they were outside; she could feel the warmness of the sun on the right side of her face. She could safely guess that she had been taken through the courtyard by the firmness of the ground beneath her feet and the clapping of her shoes on the stones. Besides that, she had no clue where she was being taken; it was amazing how being blinded affected one’s sense of directions.

“We’re almost there!” her sister replied. Anna waited and followed where she was led. When they finally arrived, Anna could hardly contain her excitement. “Okay, you can look.”

Anna took off the blindfold and couldn’t help but gasp. They were standing on the edge of the royal garden, which was in the middle of being transformed. The red carpet had been rolled down the center of the garden, and at the end of it was a stone marble wedding arch with highly detailed designs carved into it. The gardeners were hard at work planting some of the most exotic looking flowers Anna had ever seen. The white chairs were starting to be lined up on the grass, being positioned with the best possible view of the arch. All the trees and brushes were perfectly trimmed. “An outdoor wedding?”

Anna had expected to have the ceremony in the same chapel Elsa had her coronation. She never imagined her special day becoming this immense of an occasion. “A day like this deserves more than a simple service in the castle’s chapel room.”

“This is beautiful!” Anna said, still in shock over everything that her sister was doing for her wedding. This was far beyond anything she ever imagined her wedding to be like. 

“It’s not done yet, there’s still a lot of work to be done, but I figured after a lifetime of living with the gates closed, you deserved a wedding that is totally in the open.”

Anna’s eyes swelled up and without thinking, she found herself quickly embracing her older sister. “Thank you!”

* * * *

Versa was busy at work, directing a new wave of wedding decoration deliveries. As they entered the gates and into the courtyard, she told the men where to put them. If they needed to be protected from the elements, they were to be taken into a room where they can be taken care of until the day of the wedding. If they were sturdier decorations, then they could be placed outside so the gardeners could immediately put them where they needed to go.

Enjoying himself, was Olaf. Preserved by his own personal snow cloud over his head all year around, he was ecstatic when the exotic flowers started arriving. He hobbled along and enjoyed the smell of each batch of new flowers. “Oh, I just love the smell of flowers. It gets me so excited for next spring!”

Versa raised an eyebrow towards the snowman. She was already overwhelmed by the speed the decorations were coming to the castle; having to worry about a tiny snowman getting in the way was the last thing she really needed at that point. “Olaf, I know you really like to smell the flowers, but I really need to get this done.”

Olaf was so entranced with all the flowers, he didn’t hear her request. He simply bounced towards a series of baskets of Blue Hydrangeas. Chuckling, he took a long sniff of the beautiful blue flowers. No longer did he sniff those flowers before he exploded with a giant sneeze. The sneeze caused his carrot nose to launch from his snowy face. The carrot hit the ground and rolled right into the path of one of the two workers bringing in a wooden wedding arch. The worker stepped on it, and fell backwards, pulling his leg of the arch with him.

“No, no, no, no, no, no!” Versa freaked out! 

Elsa and Anna, hearing Versa’s squeal, quickly made ran to the courtyard, in the front of the castle. As soon as they turned the corner, they could only watch the mayhem unfold. The worker who slipped on the carrot, pulled the wood wedding arch downward. The man on the other side of the arch couldn’t keep it from falling, as he lost his grip of his leg. Olaf picked up his carrot nose and placed it back on his face, unaware of what was happening. He hobbled a few steps away before he realized what was happening. He watched it all play out, fascinated by the chaos. 

Another worker who was pulling a wooden wheel barrel full of flowers did not see the falling arch in time to avoid it. All he could do was leap out of the way to protect himself. The arch collapsed onto the wheelbarrow, knocking the flowers onto the ground while severing the wheel from the rest of the wheelbarrow. 

Anna covered her mouth and chuckled. Yes, this was a probably a wedding ceremony disaster playing out, but she couldn’t help but see the humor in it as well. Elsa, on the hand, wasn’t so amused. She continued to gasp as the cost continued to mount up. This was a disaster of epic proportions. To her, this was putting a huge stain on what she had hoped to be a perfect wedding. Versa was beside herself, freaking out with every moment that played out. 

The severed wheel rolled speedily across the pass of a couple of workers who were in a group of at least ten toting a medium size clay statuette. They nearly tripped which caused the whole group struggling to keep hold of it. Finally the balance had gotten so out of whack, it fell to the ground, and the arm of statuette snapped. 

Elsa gasped and ran to the broken statuette. She had it imported all the way from France, and now it was nothing more than garbage. She knelt down and picked up the arm. “No!”

“Oh, Your Highness, I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” Versa squealed, holding her chest as if trying to keep her heart from pounding its way out of her chest. 

Elsa was so shocked, she almost forgot how to talk. She couldn’t take her eyes off the ruined statuette. Anna walked up to her side, to see how bad the damage was. Before she could say anything, Elsa finally spoke. “What have you done?”

“I’m so sorry, Your Highness. I’ll find a way to fix this, somehow.”

“It’s perfectly alright, it was just a...”

Anna went to ease Versa’s nerves but was abruptly cut off by her sister. “What have you done, Versa?”

Versa recoiled, and her eyes clearly showed the fear that had come over her. A dark cloud started to form over the castle and the temperature began to plummet. Snowflakes began to flurry down. Anna stepped closer to her sister, knowing that she had to calm her down quickly. “Elsa, it’s alright, it was just an accident.”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!” Elsa’s voice echoed everywhere, as she stomped her foot and swung her fists downward. As her foot slammed on the stone, the ground froze around her and ice spears shot up around the queen. Elsa and Anna had to leap back to avoid being impaled. 

Versa stumbled on her feet, and fell to the ground. She looked up into the queen’s glowing eyes, which rained down rage and hatred back down on her. Her attention was quickly drawn to Elsa’s hair as a good portion of it turned pure white before her eyes. Now, more than half of her hair was white as the snow that was falling from the sky. 

Anna found a way through the ice spears and raced to her older sister, who was quickly loosing herself to the anger. “Elsa, please! Calm d... OW!” 

She placed a hand on Elsa’s bare shoulders and it was cold, it almost felt like she had just burned her hand on copper stove. She backed away and cradles her hand. Elsa’s swung her head towards Anna as if she perceived her to be another threat, but as soon as she saw her little sister nursing her hand, the icy glow in her eyes vanished again. The rage vanished just as quickly, leaving her shocked by her own actions. “I—I’m sorry. Excuse me, I—I...” 

“Elsa, wait! I’m okay. The pain’s already gone!”

Elsa was already too far to hear her. She ran straight for the gates of the castle, amongst the sounds of her own sobbing. She ran inside and up the master stairwell. She headed straight for her chamber, and made sure to slam it shut behind her. Out of breath, she leaned up against her dresser. The looks of Anna and Versa were instilled on her mind. Once again, she was hurting the people that she loved, and she didn’t know why.

She looked up at the mirror, to see if her outer appearance matched how she felt on the inside. Instead of finding her own reflection, what she saw rattled her to the core. It was her, but her hair was icy blue. Her skin was white as snow and even had a layer of frost on it. Her eyes were like ice; they were full of hatred and empty on emotions. It was an image so terrifying, she threw a spray of ice, causing the mirror to shatter. She fell to her knees and the emotions, which she had fought hard to hold in, came bursting out of her like a raging river.

* * * *

Anna Helped Versa to her feet, who was fighting a losing battle holding back her tears. That explosion of anger would have brought anyone to tears. “This wasn’t your fault. Elsa... hasn’t been herself lately.”

“I know,” Versa said with a sniffle. “I’m so sorry about the statue and the flowers, my Princess. How’s your hand?”

Versa took Anna’s hand to inspect it. There appeared to be no real bruising or blistering. Just to be safe, she took the silk belt from her blouse off and wrapped it around her hand. “Oh, it’s fine; don’t you worry about me. You know, I don’t think I’ve ever really thanked you. You’ve done so much for me and my sister since our parents died. I just wanted to let you know that I think of you as a good friend.”

That put a smile on Versa’s face. “Thank you, my Princess. I feel the same way.”

“What is happening around here? All of the sudden, it started snowing... and it’s only September!” Kristoff asked, entering the courtyard. He looked around at the broken statuette and spilled flowers. He then saw the sheet of ice and ice spears sticking up from the ground. “Oh.”

“I think of you as a friend too, my princess. That’s why... I have a confession to make,” Versa said. She reached into a pocket in her dress and pulled out two folded pieces of paper. She solemnly handed them to Anna.

“What are these?” She asked as she unfolded one of the sheets. 

“They’re the missing pages from your father’s journal.”

Anna’s eyes widen as she read through the rest of her father’s final entry. There wasn’t much left unsaid, but what was remaining had ushered in a new hope. Seeing Anna’s change of emotions had gotten his curiosity peeking. “What does it say?”

She looked up at him with a new excitement in her eyes. “Kristoff, there may be another way to save Elsa!”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, trying to understand Anna. There were times when if she got really excited, it was very hard for him to understand her. When she got excited, her mind was usually racing at top speed, and it was a struggle for him just to keep up.

“Dad says that he was going to bring Elsa to the trolls first, to find a cure for Elsa’s curse. He then goes on to say if that didn’t work, that there was one more possibility!”

“I don’t know. It sounds too good to be true.” He didn’t seem convinced of this news. He knew Grand Pabbie very well; if he had thought that there was another way to save Queen Elsa, he would have said something about it by now.

As Anna unfolded the second piece of paper, Versa tried to fill Kristoff in with everything she knew from the ‘missing’ pages. “It doesn’t give much detail, but it appears that your parents knew of a second possible location where he was thinking about taking the Queen to search for a cure.”

“And look, here’s a map!” Anna said so exuberantly, she squealed the final word. 

She unfolded the map so everyone could see it. It was a very detailed map of the region. Arendelle was the heart of the map. There were two black dotted lines departing the town. The first one led to a Red ‘X’ to a very familiar territory to both Kristoff and Anna, and it was the shortest distance on the map. “This is where my family is,” Kristoff acknowledged.

The second dotted line followed an eastern path up the mountains and to the farthest point on the map where the red ‘X’ was. “It makes sense why Dad never sought out this second opportunity. His memory was erased... he forgot about this journal and he forgot about this map! That’s why this journal abruptly ends. Now that I have this, WE can go here and maybe even find a cure! Versa, why did you rip these pages from the journal?”

Versa frowned and pointed to the second red ‘X’. “This is why I tore those pages. This is located in the Eastern Mountains. You’re already making plans on going there, and I don’t want you to get hurt. I ripped those pages out to protect you, my Princess.”

“She’s got a point,” Kristoff replied. “These are the Eastern Mountain; the most dangerous mountain range in the area. The altitude is so high, it snows there all year around; the terrain is so harsh, it’s almost uninhabitable. I’ve heard of several fellow Ice delivers try going up these mountain, and they were never heard from again. It’s definitely not a place for Princesses.”

“This is where a possible cure is for my sister,” Anna replied sternly. 

“Your Highness, please, it’s too dangerous for you.” Versa pleaded “Send out someone else; the captain of the guard, maybe. Arendelle can’t afford to lose you.” She did not show her this map now so she could go off and get herself killed. She was only showing it now because of the situation the queen was now in. She knew by showing her the map, it would be a calculated risk that she would not take her advice and go anyway. She had to make the best case possible and try to convince her to send someone else. If this curse hadn’t been getting worse by the day, she would have kept this map hidden. To go to these mountains were almost suicide; and the people of this town couldn’t afford to lose both sisters.

Kristoff put a hand on Anna’s shoulder, trying to get her to see reason. “She’s right. You need to stay here, and be with the queen. I’ll go to the mountains and see what’s up there.”

“If you’re going, then I’m going too,” Anna said defiantly.

“Anna, you sister needs you; the people of Arendelle need you. They don’t need me. I’m going there alone.”

Anna tried to stand to his level by stretching and standing on her toes. “I need you! I’m going with you to those mountains, and there’s nothing anyone’s going to say to change my mind.”

Kristoff sighed, knowing that he was never going to win this battle. If he kept on pushing the matter, she was more than likely going to do something very stupid to get herself killed. He looked over to Versa, and she looked broken hearted in defeat. “Yes, my Princess.”

Seeing the concern on her face, Anna took her hand and cupped it between both of hers. “Versa, I promise that I will be alright. I have the best mountain man taking me there,” She said, smiling wryly back at Kristoff. “I need you to promise me that you won’t tell Elsa about this.” 

This request brought an inner discord in the young handmaiden, who didn’t want to make such a promise. Such a promise could cost Anna her life, but with her back up against the wall, she didn’t have much of choice. “I promise.”


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

There was a rising anxiety inside of Anna. She would be fooling herself if she didn’t admit that there was a part of her that was nervous. She rushed into her last journey blindly, and never realized the danger that was in the wild. Kristoff was convinced that this journey was going to be worse, but here she was again, rushing into another life threatening journey anyway.

The way she saw it, she had no other choice. Elsa probably would never think about going, herself. First of all, she would never admit to herself how dire her circumstance actually was. Second, Anna feared that her transformation would be made complete in the middle of the journey. Besides, there was no guarantee that this journey would pan out. If Elsa got her hopes up only to have it dashed again, that could set off the transformation in of itself. Anna would rather go and find out the truth before telling her anything.

Sven was already hooked up to the sled. Kristoff was finishing up packing the sled with everything they might need to climb the snowy mountains. She waited there with Sven and the sled while he was gathering the last of the supplies. The friendly reindeer was nudging her arm, asking for attention. With a pleasant smile on her face, she was more than willing to give him some. She scratched his furry scalp, in between his two large antlers.  He grunted and moaned, fluttering his eyes in pure enjoyment.

_I’m preparing for the journey ahead_

_Trouble is brewing, that’s all the incentive I need_

_There is no choice but to take action now_

_So pull out the reindeer; pull out the sled_

_In order to stop destiny, there’s no choice but to succeed_

_But the problem is that I don’t know how_

_My heart’s pounding with questions abounding_

_But my resolve has never been so strong_

_I’m climbing to the mountain top_

_Nothing is going to stand in my way_

_I’m pushing through my hopes and fears_

_No more regrets and no more tears_

_Adrenalin unending_

_Confidence undying_

_Gravity defying_

_Character defining_

_I’m climbing to the mountain top_

_Nothing is going to lead me astray_

_Too much fear; too much misunderstanding_

_I never thought these days would ever come back again_

_I thought I left all of this behind me_

_The mountain ahead is so commanding_

_A task so grim, it’s rarely tried by the bravest men_

_It’s time to break the shackles and run free_

_I’m climbing to the mountain top_

_Nothing is going to keep me away_

_The journey’s long, but I don’t care_

_Let danger give all that it may dare_

“Let it come!”

_I’m climbing to the mountain top_

_No more consenting and no more delay_

_Let the barriers come tumbling down_

_I can’t stop ‘til the answer is found_

_Adrenalin unending_

_Confidence undying_

_Gravity defying_

_Character defining_

_Excitement supplying_

_Destiny complying_

_I’m climbing to the mountain top_

_And there’s no way I’m ever turning back_

“This should do it,” Kristoff said, putting a final satchel in the back of the sled.

Anna looked inside the sled at all the satchels he put piled up. “You would think we were moving to the mountains or something.”

“The first rule when you climb a mountain that’s trying to kill you... prepare for anything!”

“You mean they actually have a book on this kind of stuff?” Anna grinned playfully.

The look on her face clearly showed that she was playing with him.  Never the less, he felt compelled to make sure she was ready for this perilous journey. “Mock me if you may, but last time, I lost my sled taking you to the North Mountain. I would like to prevent that from happening again, if you don’t mind.”

“Hey, my sister and I replaced it! I even picked out the new Lute that I broke!”  Anna pouted.

Kristoff grinned, enjoying teasing her about the day they first met. If you thought it was love at first sight, you’d be wrong. It wasn’t really hate at first sight, either, but knowing that she was the princess, he definitely enjoyed pulling her chain just a little. After all, she was a princess, and he wasn’t; she was also engaged to be married to a prince. She was so out of his league, he really didn’t even try to charm her all that much. Besides, he had been happy being a bachelor up to that point. There was something about Anna that made him want to change his entire lifestyle, as drastic as it was. As much as he didn’t care for wearing his formal prince suit, or even being called a prince, he was willing to put up with it just to see Anna happy. She must have some magical qualities, like her sister, to get him to change so much. “And that gift is just a special to me than the sled.”

That caused Anna’s face to turn red. He always had a way to remind her how much she loved him.  He wasn’t nearly as rough, and brazen has many mountain men were; he definitely had a soft side. And though, he had been very anti-social towards most people, she saw something no one else did. She saw the sensitive side to him.

Kristoff turned to the sled to do a final inventory. “Let me see if we have everything. We have a rope, an ax, blankets, food, water, a lantern, some wood for burning...” His eyes were quickly drawn to Olaf who had sneaked into the back of the sled with all the stuff. He waved his right hand when he finally noticed him. “And a pesky little snow man.”

“Olaf?” Anna wasn’t upset to see him, just merely surprised.  He always seemed to know when she and Kristoff were getting ready for a journey. He may not be the smartest snowman in many ways, he was pretty knowledgeable in others.

“So, where are we off to now? Are we off to see the fam again!”

“Please don’t call them that,” Kristoff said dryly. “And is it so much to ask for just one quiet trip?”

Olaf looked up at him with a blank look on his face until he answered. “Yeah, why?”

“Maybe it’s a good thing for him to tag along?”

“Oh come on,” Kristoff protested. “He’s going to slow us down! This trip is going to be dangerous enough fighting the elements.”

“He did prove quite helpful the last time, and besides... he’s made of SNOW! We’re going to a snowy mountain. What happened to Mr. Be-prepared-for-anything?”

He sighed, as he knew that there was going to be no winning this argument. He had to concede the fact that the little snowman did prove more than helpful two years ago. He had helped them find Anna’s sister on the North Mountain. He also played a big part in helping to save Anna’s life.  He may have a personality that slightly clashed with his, but Kristoff could not question his ability to be there when it really counted. “Alright, he can come, but we really need to leave now; we need to get as far as we can before we lose the daylight.”

* * * *

Elsa was done sulking and feeling sorry for herself; she didn’t have the luxury of time for it. The wedding was still quickly approaching, and there was still too much work to be done. Upon breaking out of her emotional state, she regained control of her powers, and brought an end to the early season flurry that she had inadvertently set off.  

More decorations were being delivered, and more dignitaries from other nations and kingdoms were arriving today, and the last thing she needed was for everyone to fear a repeat of her coronation. After leaving her chamber, she found Versa still directing all the deliveries. She was the first she apologized too. As awkward as that moment was, she was glad that all was forgiven and forgotten. The next thing she wanted to do was to find Anna and apologize to her. “Versa, have you seen Anna around?”

Versa looked up at her and shrugged. “No, Your Highness. I’ve been so focused on this, I have no idea where she may be.”

Elsa nodded sorrowfully. It would have made her feel better if she could apologize right away and see if Anna’s hand was alright. Perhaps she and Kristoff were off getting away from the craziness of the castle, and had gone off for some alone time. No matter, there was always tonight.

One of her workers solemnly approached her. “Your Highness, the Princess and prince of the kingdom of Corona have arrived.”

This was exciting news. Anna had met the Princess of Corona two years ago at Elsa coronation celebration. Since then, the two of them had become very good friends. They were so similar, it was almost funny. There weren’t many dignitaries who fond of a royal princess marrying a ‘commoner’, but this Princess was all for true love. In fact, she had fallen in love and married someone who was not of royal lineage as well. Elsa had no doubt that this common factor would only strengthen their friendships.

“Thank you. Please inform Princess Rapunzel that Anna isn’t here at the present moment, but she is very excited that she’s here, and will meet up with her as soon as she can.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

* * * *

The sun was quickly setting after a long day’s journey. They were just starting to enter the snow region, so the temperature had plummeted. Anna had to put on her hooded shawl with the frigid weather now upon them.  Just entering this part of the journey was the perfect spot to take a break and set up camp. Kristoff had built a fire for the two of them to keep warm, while Olaf stayed a safe distance away by hanging out with Sven. The gentle snowman had agreed to stand guard for the night, to allow the two of them to catch some sleep. Somehow, though, Anna suspected that Kristoff was going to keep one eye open. Somehow, she sensed that Olaf keeping guard did nothing to ease his fears.

As they were sitting around the fire, Anna was warming her gloved hands by the fire. She suddenly realized that she had forgotten something very important that she should have remembered before going on the journey. The memory was like electricity coursing through her body, and it nearly caused her to jump to her feet. Startled by the sudden jump of Anna, Kristoff’s first fear was that something was physically wrong with her. “Anna, what’s wrong?”

“I can’t believe I forgot it’s today!”

“What’s today?”

“Rapunzel and Eugene were coming today... and I wasn’t there to welcome them!” She crossed her arms across her  chest and shivered not out of being cold, but out of fear. “She’s never going to forgive me.”

“You worry too much,” Kristoff grinned. “Come and keep warm. Princess Rapunzel, above anyone else, will understand why you had to do this.”

“You think so?” She asked as she reluctantly sat down again by the fire.

“No doubt in my mind,” he replied. “You know, of all the royal couples that I’ve had to meet, Prince Eugene and Princess Rapunzel are the only ones who I feel comfortable around. They seemed to me the most down to earth royal couple I’ve ever met.”

Anna grinned. “Remind me to tell you the story of how they met.”

Kristoff stood up and walked over to the sled. He scavenged through his supplies and pulled out some blankets and some pillows. “We shouldn’t stay in one place for very long, so I think it would be best if we tried to get a few hours of sleep. Night time is not safe to stay stationary for too long.”

Anna accepted the blanket and pillow. She laid one blanket onto the barely snow covered ground, as close to the fire as she dared. Lying down, she used her other blanket to cover herself from the flurry that gently drizzled down on them. Placing her head on her pillow, she was convinced that she wasn’t going to get much sleep. Her mind was racing with the worries that she was carrying on her shoulder. They were the worries of not just missing her close friend from the kingdom of Corona, but of Elsa as well.

Anna rolled onto her other side to glance over at Kristoff on the other side of the fire. He was attempting to catch some sleep as well or at least wanted her to think so. That was just as well, because she wanted him to think she was sleeping too. She rolled back around and fought against her mind who were trying to keep her awake with all of the fears that in her. Soon, she won the battle, and drifted off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A whole day had come and gone and Elsa hadn't heard a word from Anna. Now, she was starting to get concerned. None of the staff had seen her all day. It was now late at night, and everyone was now asleep, everyone except for Elsa; she was on a mission to find her sister.

At first, she thought that they had gone off for some alone time or went to visit with the trolls. Then, a part of her feared that Anna was avoiding her out of fear. Now, she didn't know what to believe; it wasn't like her to vanish without a trace.

She made her way towards the Princess' chamber. At this late hour, Anna should be fast asleep in her bed, but at this point, Elsa didn't care. She would rather wake her up and make sure she was safe. Standing in front of the large wooden doors, she gently tapped on the door and waited to be invited in. No such invitation came.

She quietly pushed the right door open and peeked inside the dark room. Anna's bed remained undisturbed, and her chamber remained lifeless. There was no sign that she had been there the entire day. Now, Elsa's nerves were even more on edge. Her sister's disappearance may not have anything to do with visiting the trolls or being upset with her; she could be in serious trouble.

She rushed back down the main upstairs corridor, and made her way for Kristoff's chamber. She stood before the door, feeling a little awkward about knocking on his door. As uncomfortable as it was, she had to find out if he knew where Anna was. She knocked on his door cautiously. "Kristoff, are you awake?"

When no reply came, she mustered up the strength to open the door and look inside. Just like Anna's room, his room was untouched since the maids had done their work. There was a part of Elsa that felt a tiny bit better; if he was gone too, then they were together, and less likely to be in danger. However, this was not the final place she had to check. From what Anna had told her, Kristoff was known to sneak out to the stalls and sleep in the hay besides his reindeer. He still was not used to being civil, and occasionally missed sleeping outside rather than on a bed.

Elsa made her way downstairs and outside to the royal stable. This was where Sven stayed, along with her's and her sister's horses. She lit up a lantern and entered inside. Her horse, Cyphus was asleep in his stall. Anna's horse, in the next stall over, was also fast asleep. However, Sven was missing from his stall, as well as Kristoff's sled at the far end of the stable.

Elsa knew that they had indeed gone on a trip, but was it to the trolls? Why were they not back yet? Snuffing out the flame in the lantern and putting it away, she made her way back into the castle, now more confused than ever. Deep in thought, she slowly ascended the master staircase to the second level. She was about to make her way back to her quarters when she saw Versa in her nightgown walking around. When she saw Elsa coming up the steps, she met her at the top. "Your Highness, is something wrong?"

"Versa, I'm getting very worried. No one has seen or heard from Anna all day, and both she and Kristoff are missing." Elsa saw a concerned look on her face, but there was another look mixed in her facial expressions that made her think that her handmaiden had more information about their whereabouts than she was letting on. "You know something, don't you?"

The expression on her face quickly turned to panic. "No, Your Highness! I don't know anything."

Elsa raised an eyebrow. "You've never really been that good at lying. Out with it."

She could see a conflict waging inside of Versa. She knew that Anna had forced her to promise not to say anything, and that told her that she was not going to like what she was about to hear. Versa was usually good at keeping a promise, but this was one promise Elsa was going to force her to break. She was her queen, and at this moment, was speaking as such. "Please forgive me, Your Highness! She made me promise not to tell you. Please don't be upset with me!"

"Versa, please tell me where my sister is."

Her handmaiden looked like a volcano. The pressure became so much, the truth exploded out of her as did her words . "She went to the Eastern Mountains."

"The Eastern Mountains!" The news was worst than she imagined. Those mountains were extremely dangerous. What could her little sister be thinking? What could Kristoff be thinking taking her there? "Why would she and Kristoff go there?"

"Please, Your Highness, I tried to talk them out of going! I really did!" she pleaded as if she was on trial for her life.

"Calm down, and tell me what's in the Eastern Mountains."

She fought against her nerves and tried to calm herself down. "Anna is searching for a possible cure for your curse."

That bit of information was like a sword to her heart. It all stemmed from her losing her temper earlier in the day. Once again, she had put her sister in harm's way, and all she was doing was looking out for her well-being. "This is all my fault." She gasped. "Versa, go find the Captain of the Guard and have him report to me in my throne room, immediately!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" she said, and quickly turned and ran off to do as commanded.

Elsa turned around and headed back down to the main level. Her mind was racing with fears of what kind of things might happen on that mountain. What was she thinking going up those mountains? The weather conditions were brutal, and the mountains were highly prone to avalanches. The blizzards on those mountains often dumped several feet of snow per day, especially during this time of the year.

She reached the bottom level, and went straight for the throne room. There she paced around until the Captain finally entered the room. "Your majesty, how might I serve you?"

"Captain, please find the most experienced mountain climber you can find, and take your best men to the Eastern Mountains. I fear my sister might be in trouble there, and please hurry!"

"Right away, Your Majesty!"

* * * *

Grand Pabbie was very restless, that night. None of the other trolls had ever seen him this anxious before. He refused to turn himself into his rock form, which was how they usually slept. Mammie only watched as he stood in front of the small pond. The other trolls were fast asleep, and those who weren't didn't feel like they should disturb him.

After watching him for awhile, Mammie decided that it was time to find out why he was so restless. She hobbled towards him, followed by a couple other trolls who were just as curious as she was about the situation. "What do you see? Is Kristoff in—danger?"

"I sense great danger in the Eastern Mountains. I believe that not only is Kristoff in danger, but the queen, her sister, and everyone in these lands."

She and the two other trolls behind her were both stunned by the sudden turn of events. No one had sensed anything that was out of the ordinary, but none of their senses were honed as well as Grand Pabbie. If he had seen a vision of coming calamity, then you could rest assure that it was going to happen. "What can be done?"

Grand Pabbie turned towards her with a look on his face that told Mammie that he was going to say something that will not settle well with many of them. "I'm afraid there is no choice... I must go to the Eastern Mountains."

She looked at the two other trolls behind her, and they were all just now realizing how serious this was. No troll had ever left home before. Not one had ever left this wooded utopia of theirs; they were content to being secluded from all other life, and rarely took risks of being seen by unwanted prying eyes. To risk this much, there had to be something very wrong in the land.

* * * * 

Anna struggled with keeping her eyes open as the journey continued. Daybreak had come, but the sun was nowhere to be seen. Instead, snow was raining down hard over their heads. The temperature had dropped even further, forcing her to put the hood of her shawl up.

The journey was longer than she had anticipated; mostly because the deteriorating weather condition was slowing things down. By now, Elsa would have found out that she and Kristoff were no longer in Arendelle. She only hoped Versa was able to keep this journey a secret, but she had a nagging feeling that Elsa was going to force it out of her sooner rather than later. Perhaps if she returned with good news, her sister would forgive her.

Olaf, who was sitting in the back with the supplies, was quickly getting bored. Both Anna and Kristoff were not talking, and on a long journey like that, silence was not something he enjoyed that much. "So, are we there yet?"

At the reigns of the sled, his eyes narrowed in frustration. "For the tenth time, we'll get there when we get there."

Resting her eyelids, Anna grinned. She tried not to show it, but she got a kick out of how much Olaf tend to annoy him. She knew that, deep down inside, he liked the little snowman, but he wasn't going to show it to anyone.

"Where are we going, anyway? I don't think ever been here before?"

"There's nothing around us but white snow; how can you possibly know where you are or aren't?" he returned.

Anna opened her eyes as she thought about how to answer the inquisitive snowman. Perhaps now that there was no need to keep a secret from anyone, she could answer him truthfully. "We're going to the Eastern Mountains."

Olaf gasped. "The Eastern Mountains! Never heard of them. So what's there?"

Anna's expression on her face changed to a more serious, and solemn look. "A cure—I hope."

"Why? Are you sick?"

"Not me—Elsa," She replied, her mood quickly turning into depression. "She's very sick, and maybe there is a cure somewhere in the Eastern Mountains."

"Ah, it's your wedding gift to her! What an incredible gift!" he replied in awe. "This is going to be the best wedding ever!"

Kristoff shook his head and leaned in towards Anna to whisper. "Somebody's got to set him straight."

Anna grinned. She had purposely not set Olaf straight on wedding traditions for this very reason. She enjoyed seeing Kristoff squirm whenever the little snowman confuses something. For some reason, the mountain man had some kind of quirk when it came to the truth. It was hard for him to hear misinformation and not try to set it straight. She had to step in a few times when Kristoff encountered a young kid in the kingdom, who was too young to know better. It was one of his idiosyncrasies he acquired from living most of his life without human contact. Perhaps the trolls were a stickler for honesty and truth. That was something she still wondered about. "Let him be."

Kristoff sighed, and was going to protest, but his mountain man skills had alerted him of danger. He was focused on his surroundings, and a quick glance brought to his attention the darker clouds up ahead. "Olaf, you better toss up some blankets."

"Why, what's wrong?" Anna asked, sitting up straight.

"We're about to be hit with a giant blizzard."


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The captain of the guard and a large group of his best men had pushed on through the night and made up a lot of ground thanks to their guide. He was a volunteer from the town’s people, who said that he was an expert mountain climber and hunter. His tracking skills had proven quite invaluable to the progress they’ve already made. 

He successfully led them to the site where the princess and her suitor had camped out. They found the fire pit that the falling show had partly hid. He determined where they slept and even knew about how long ago they were last there. The captain could not have been happier about how much he had already proven useful. 

“They went that way!” The guide pointed straight ahead.

“Excellent, let’s keep up the pace, men!” the captain shouted.

“Captain, the temperature is dropping and the wind is picking up. I fear that they are heading straight into a blizzard.”

This news was completely unwelcomed, but not totally unexpected. This was the season for severer blizzards in this region. It was for this very reason the queen had sent him and his men to rescue the princess. There was no turning back without her. At least, the storm could possibly slow her down so he and his men could catch up to her. The problem was that the storm was an extreme danger for not just her, but for him and his men as well. “You heard him men; we have no time to lose.”

* * * *

The wind was violent and uncompassionate. Anna was crouching as much as she could, but the wind still continued to pound mercilessly on her. The blanket did only so much to keep her warm. Olaf, in the back, was doing his best not to be blown away. He ducked behind the front seats as low as he could, but even then it was becoming a struggle. 

Kristoff had no choice but to endure the stinging of the wind. His face was completely covered, except his eyes, by his hat and a scarf wrapped around his mouth and nose. The wind battered the side of the sled, threatening to push it off course. Poor Sven was giving it everything he had trying to push through the storm. 

“The storm is getting worse,” Kristoff’s muffled voice came from behind the scarf. “We have to turn back!”

Hearing what he said was hard enough when he was speaking behind a scarf, and the howling of the wind only made things worse, but she heard enough to know what he was suggesting. “No! We can’t give up now! Elsa’s life depends on it!”

“You can’t save your sister if you’re dead!” 

“I, for one, am definitely for turning back,” Olaf commented. His carrot nose started to blow away, but managed to catch it and stick it back in its proper place.   
Anna didn’t want to turn back; there was a part of her that would rather die than turn back. Elsa meant the world to her, and this was the only way to save her. To give up now, would be like giving up on her sister; it just wasn’t something she could get herself to do. At the same time, the last thing she wanted was to bring Kristoff into a perilous situation with her. 

She was getting ready to respond when the two of them noticed the wind beginning to die down, and the falling snow slowed down. Visibility increased slightly as if the storm was taking a break from its constant pounding on them. Kristoff looked all around, puzzled by the sudden change. To his left, a giant mountain, reaching as high as their eyes could see, towered over them. “That’s strange. Perhaps the mountain is shielding us from the wind?”

Anna shrugged, as she stared up at the mountain. “Wow, that’s a very tall mountain! It’s very beautiful, too, with all the snow covering it!”

He Looked up at the mountain top and had to admit that it was a very beautiful sight. It was, at least, until he noticed a crack in the snow. Soon, the sound of thunder echoed from the top of the mountain as the snow on the entire side of the mountain began to slide down. It was an avalanche!

“Not good! RUN SVEN!” He shouted.

The Reindeer looked up to see what was coming down the mountain, and immediately pushed himself as hard as he could to pull the sled out of the path of the tumbling snow. The sudden jerk of the sled forced Anna to grab hold of Kristoff’s arm. She immediately felt the intensity in his arm and the rest of his body. That told her everything she needed to know about the situation.

“Here, take the reins!” Kristoff inadvertently shoved the leather straps into her chest. She grasped at the reins as he spun around in his seat and leaned over to scavenge through the supplies. It proved to be more challenging with Olaf always getting in the way. “Olaf, move it!”

Olaf fought against the G-forces just to stay in the sled, which became much harder when Kristoff had to shove him out of the way. From amongst the supplies, he finally found what he was looking for: a rope and his pickax. Turning back around, he threw the rope around his shoulder and put the pickax on his lap. He took the reins back from Anna, who was more than glad to give them back to him.

Anna looked up, and the amount of snow rolling down the mountain had nearly doubled as it raced down the mountain at top speed. She found herself grasping at her chest; she had to remind herself to breath or else the avalanche was the last thing she was going to have to worry about. “Hurry Sven!”

The thundering roar echoed louder and louder, as mountain of snow sped down the mountain at top speed. Anna’s arms were shaking as she again grasped at his arm. “Uh, Kristoff...”

The wind started to pick up again, and this time, Olaf could not fight it any longer. The wind picked the little snowman up, right out of the sled, and separated him into three segmented snowballs. “Uh oh, I think I’m flying away!”

“Olaf!” Anna squealed, momentarily fearing for his safety. It then dawned on her, that no matter how often the wind blew him away, he always managed to come back together. As she had tried to catch him, the map was ripped from her person. She didn’t even have the chance to make a grab for it before it was carried away. “The map!”

Kristoff didn’t notice Olaf’s untimely departure or the loosing of the map; his focus, right now, was solely on surviving. He was franticly looking for anything that could increase their odds. Up ahead, there was possibly something might fit the bill, but he was quickly losing confidence that they were going to be able to make it there before they were overrun. Even if they did, there was no way Sven would survive, not when he was busy pulling Anna, himself, and all the supplies. There was only one way to give Sven a fighting chance to survive.

“Sven, no matter what happens, just RUN!” He shouted as he stood up and raised his pickax. 

Anna realized what he was about to do, and quickly became alarmed. “What are you doing?”

“I’m saving his life!” He replied. He brought the ax down upon the ropes that had Sven harnessed to the sled, severing it in one swing. The sled instantly slowed to a crawl as Sven picked up lightning speed. It took only a few seconds for him to disappear in the white haze.

Kristoff turned to Anna, and taking her by the arm, he pulled her up onto her feet. “Anna, JUMP!”

They jumped out together, holding hands. They landed in the snow as the sled came to a complete stop. Before she knew what was happening, he was pulling her along behind him, running as fast as they could. She had no idea why they had to abandon the sled, because there was no way they were going to outrun the avalanche on foot. Within seconds, the chill of the preceding mounds of snow hit them, and a few seconds after that... the avalanche came crashing down on the trail.

* * * *

The storm had slowed them down tremendously, but the captain would not allow it to stop them. His men pushed on with the same determination as he did. They all loved the princess and would do anything to bring her home safely, even if it meant marching through several feet of snow in a blinding blizzard. 

Despite the falling snow covering the tracks that they were following, their guide was still able to tell which direction she and her suitor had gone. He led them down a path which followed one of the tallest points of the mountains. If this was the way the princess had come, there was no other direction for them to go but straight. This gave the captain some confidence that they were still making progress through the storm.

The storm appeared to be in its final leg, as the winds had drastically died down and the snow had slowed to a flurry. The captain had assumed that this favorable turn of events would allow them to pick up the pace again, but instead the guide raised up a hand to bring the party to a halt. “Find something?” He asked the guide.

“We need to tread carefully. An avalanche had recently swept over this trail.”

“The sound of thunder we heard; that was an avalanche?” 

The guide didn’t need to answer; his eyes were all the confirmation he needed. That unspoken confirmation brought with it a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. What if the princess had been caught in the avalanche? Were they too late?

“Captain, there’s no telling how much snow has fallen, or how compact it may be. I suggest that no more than five of us go by foot and scout the area before we risk riding the horses through this.”

“Agreed,” The captain used his right hand to motion for three of his men to come with them.

The Guide ventured first and dared to take the first few steps forward. Instantly the snow gave way under his weight, and he sunk into the snow up to his ankles. Fortunately, that was as deep as he would sink as it seemed to do fairly well holding his weight. The captain and his men soon joined him and spread out to test as much of the path as they could.

They carefully explored the area as they tested the snow piles for any soft spots. All the captain could do, at that point, was pray that the Princess had not been caught in this mess. That hope, was severely put to the test when he heard one of his men call out to him. “Captain! I found something!”

He rushed towards the guard who had called for his attention, forgetting about his surroundings. When he got there, his worst fears were being realized. His guard had found a black, wooden blank with golden details; there was no doubt that it came from the sled. 

“I also found this!” He said, holding up a snow covered green hooded shawl. It belonged to the Princess.

His heart sank, as he didn’t need the help of the guide to translate what this evidence was saying. As if he really needed a final confirmation, he noticed a sheet of paper being carried by the breeze. He reached up and grabbed as it floated near him. He unfolded it to see a full-colored map. There were two trails labeled on the map, and one of them would have taken the princess this very direction. 

He looked up at his men, who were all now coming to the same conclusion. Their heads dropped as the mood of the search party had sunk into depression. They sole mission was to come to the rescue of the princess and bring her back safely; it was a task now mired in failure.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The journey home for the captain was not the joyous occasion that he had hoped for. In fact, he was dreading it. He had the unpleasant duty of giving the queen the bad news about her sister. He had the entire journey to come up with the easiest way to pass on the news, but no matter what he came up with, nothing would dull the news that he had to present. There was just no easy way to tell anyone that their sister was killed in an avalanche. 

They were now back in Arendelle and nearing the gates of the castle. The shroud of gloom was thick amongst him and his men. Many of the villagers had no idea what they had been up to, and it was probably for the best. The atmosphere of this town was going to go from festive to mournful in a matter of hours. These people were excited about the wedding of Princess Anna, but now... there was not going to be a wedding. Now, they would have to endure another heart breaking funeral, probably more sorrowful than the one they had for the former King and Queen. 

He sent the rest of his men away to go mourn in the best way they saw fit; he was going to deliver the news himself. His preparing himself to address the queen personally, but the Queen’s handmaiden, Versa, had encountered him first when he entered the castle. She, too, was not going to like this what he had to say. She was more than just a plain handmaiden to the queen and princess; she was like part of the family. He wasn’t surprised in the least that she would want to know before the queen, and perhaps that was for the best. Perhaps it was better for the Queen to know the truth from someone she was close to. 

“Captain, where’s...” She was looking all around him, wondering why she wasn’t following him into the castle. Her eyes were then drawn to the wooden plank, the green Shawl, and the map in his hands. He presented them to here with a mournful shake of his head. She covered her mouth with her hands, trying to hide the gasp. “No!”

Her eyes instantly watered, which quickly began to stream down her rosy cheeks. She gently took the shawl and held it in reverence. Her jaw began to quiver, as it took every ounce of strength she had not to break down and weep before the captain. “Oh Anna,” She held the shawl up to her face and rubbed her gently across the face, as if trying feel her presence one last time. Instead, it only made her want to break out crying even more.

Realizing that the captain was watching, she regained her composure and accepted the rest of the items in his arms. “I will inform the queen.”

The captain nodded, daring not to open his mouth out of fear that his voice might crack and openly display his broken heart. He turned around and excused himself to go somewhere he could be free to show his emotions without anyone seeing.

* * * *

Versa could not get herself to report the news immediately to the Queen. She needed some time to herself to mourn and get her emotions in control before she could even think about telling her the news. When she was able to accomplish that, she set forth to the main Throne Room where the queen waited anxiously for her sister’s return. As she approached the twin doors, she held the wooden plank, Anna’s shawl, and the map in her arms. Her nerves were on end, as she realized that she was about to break Elsa’s heart. That meant, she was going to lose control of her powers. She had to be very careful and be ready to run out of the room upon first sign of icing. For the sake of the people of Arendelle, Versa prayed that the Queen could control the powers enough so not to cover the town with another blizzard. 

She slowly and cautiously opened the left side door and peered into the room. Elsa was sitting on her throne, looking to the right. Her mind was busy elsewhere. Versa ventured inside the throne room and slowly stepped towards the throne. The Queen was so distracted by her thoughts, that she didn’t notice her in the room until she was half way to the throne. 

When she finally saw her, she jumped to her feet, hoping to hear that her sister had been found and was safely back in Arendelle. With no more time to prepare for what was to come, she commenced telling her the WHOLE story. The Queen’s look of hope quickly turned to shock. The walls and floor started freezing and ice spears started sticking out of the walls and all around the queen as she crossed her arms across her chest and gasped for air. 

Versa squealed, and ran as fast as she could out of the room as the ice was quickly overtaking the room. Elsa fell to her knees; her tears already dropping to the icy layers on the floor. Finally, her emotions exploded, which only caused the icicles and ice spears to grow in speed and to unnatural sizes and thicknesses. She collapsed to her knees, cupped her face in her two hand, and leaned forward until the back of her hands were nearly touching the ground. From behind her hands, the sounds of her weeping could not be masked. 

* * * *

The people of Arendelle were confused when the sun was suddenly hidden behind gloomy, grey clouds that covered all of the town and the castle. What was once a pleasant September afternoon quickly became a howling blizzard. Everyone caught outside in the town, quickly ran as fast as they could to their homes to take shelter. The winds came suddenly blowing through the streets, bringing with it a blanket of heavy snow. 

Just as the storm came upon them, there had been rumors that Princess Anna was killed in the Eastern Mountains by an avalanche. If there was any doubt to those rumors, they were immediately laid to rest as this storm was clearly no natural phenomenon. There could be no doubt that this storm was a result of the Queen in a severe state of emotional agony. Those who have heard these rumors took time to embrace their families and shed tears together. At the same time, though, the mourning could not last long when the threat of being buried in snow was currently and literately over their heads. If the Queen did not recover from this lost sooner than any normal human being usually did under these circumstances, then everyone in town would either freeze or starve to death. 

* * * *

When Anna opened her eyes, she was looking up at a large stone boulder hanging over her. At first, her mind was trying to catch up on what had just happened. It took her a few seconds of staring up at the boulder and watching her breath rise upward, before she remembered that they had been overtaken by an avalanche. The last thing her mind could not grasp was... how did they survive?

“Anna, you alright?” Kristoff said, sitting up beside her. 

“Oh yeah, I’m just dandy!” She grunted as she forced herself to sit up and see what was going on.

The two of them were sitting under a large rock, that apparently was sticking out from the base of the mountain. They now found themselves in a small snow cave with very little moving room, and very little light, other than a small lantern that Kristoff had somehow manage to have on him. She wasn’t even sure how he had managed to get the miniature lantern from the sled before abandoning it, but she was sure glad that he had.

“We are extremely lucky to be alive right now,” he said. “I pulled you under this rock, hoping that it was deeply entrenched enough into the mountain not to collapse on top of us, and to redirect the snow around us. It was.”

“Yay, us,” She said half sarcastically. She was still trying to break out of her state of shock after watching her life flash before her eyes. “How do we get out of here, now?”

He looked away. He had no good answer to give her. The chances of surviving were not the best in the world; actually, their chances were slim to none. One wrong move and the snow could bury them alive. With no one knowing they were down here, things could not look grimmer. He wasn’t about to tell her that, though.

When he gave her no answer, she suspected that he was afraid to tell her the truth. She was not ready to admit defeat so easily. In the limited space she had, she spun herself around until she was able to get onto her hands and knees, and then crawled to the far snow wall, which formed immediately at the edge of the large boulder. She started to dig diagonally upward through the snow.

“Whoa there, Princess! Don’t do that!” he said, pulling her back as gently as he could.

“What? We need to get out of here, don’t we?”

“We don’t know how much snow is on top of us,” Kristoff explained. “If there’s a lot of it, then you may cause it to come crashing in on us.”

“Then how do we get out here? We can’t stay here forever! We got to get out of here and help Elsa!” Anna started with her rapid babbling; the clearest sign that fear and hopelessness was trying to take hold of her.

“Calm down!” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. “I really need you to stay calm. We’ve got very little air down here, and panicking will only use it up all the more quickly.”

He forced her to stare into his eyes, in an attempt to pass on some of his calm demeanor through his eyes. Looking into his eyes did have a calming effect, and her nerves started to slowly subside. Unfortunately, they subsided a little too much, and she started to sink into depression. “This is my fault. I should have listened to you from the start.” 

“Hey, none of that now, either,” he replied. “We’re going to find a way out of here, and we’re going to find a cure for your sister.”

Anna managed a smile. She knew how often her recklessness had gotten them in tight situations, but never once did he blame her or hold it over her head. He had always tried to bend over backwards to make her happy, no matter how uncomfortable it made him. He never once complained about it, either. He may not be prince, but she was very lucky to be marrying a man like him.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Elsa wondered down the hall in a daze. Her heart felt like it had been shattered into a million pieces; her grief felt like and endless pit that she just could not climb out of. Maybe it was the fact that she had been so excited to see her little sister get married. Maybe because it was so close from happening, that this hurt all the more. She knew a part of it was because she had kept Anna at arm’s length for so long, and they were just starting to make up for that. 

Now, that opportunity had been taken from her. Fate had taken everything from her that she loved: her parents... her sister... everything. It had taken everything, and left her a curse that made her a freak. Perhaps the Duke of Weaselton was right, perhaps she was a monster. If she was, she had lost the only thing that had made her feel... normal.

She was wondering through the castle, not quite sure where her body was taking her. She didn’t have the will to guess where she would end up. Her soul was directing her path, merely just bringing the rest of her along for the ride. She entered a chamber, not quite sure exactly which one it was. She looked up and she found herself in the last place she wanted be at that moment. Standing in the center of the room was the ice sculpture of Anna. 

Just seeing the icy face of Anna again, brought a new wave of emotions over her. Breathing heavily, she fought against that rising anger that did not want to remain bottled up. Her right hand balled into fist that clenched so tightly, that it shook violently. The ground beneath her feet started icing up, and the ice spread rapidly until it reached the walls. It then climbed up them when it ran out of floor space. Snowflakes swirled around her clenched fist, and it continued to pick up speed and intensity. 

She clenched her eyes shut tightly, and her breathing got heavier to the point of turning into a snarl. When her eyes opened again, they were glowing. The last strain of her light blond hair disappeared, leaving all of her hair white as the snow she manipulated. The rage exploded out of her; she screamed as she violently swung her clenched fist across and over her head. 

A deafening rumble came from the ice sculpture as a giant crack formed at the waist. The top half of the sculpture started to tip forward and gravity did her dirty work. It crashed onto the ground, and the arms and the head broke off. The raging blizzard inside of the magical ice sculpture was unleashed, filling the room with a violent blizzard storm for about thirty seconds. When the storm ended, the sculpture was nothing more than a shattered ice sculpture, which was already in progress of melting.

The glow in her eyes subsided, and the sudden realization, of what she had just done, began to take hold. The ice head of Anna lay on the ground, seemingly looking up at her as it melted before her eyes. The sight reawakened the tears in her eyes. They streamed down her face as she turned and ran. She ran by several workers, not even caring what they may think or say. She raced through the castle to her private chambers. Slamming the door shut behind her, she leaped onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow to suppress the sounds of her sobs.

As she scooted on her bed, she felt strange objects on her bed. Risking to look up from her pillows with her tear stained face, she saw the items that were brought back by the captain of the guard. The items were gently placed on her bed. There was the wooden plank from Kristoff’s ice sled and Anna’s green hooded shawl, which was neatly folded. On top of the shawl, was a piece of paper... the map that Anna had used and Versa had told her about.   
She opened the sheet and looked at, letting out a sniffle in the process. Indeed, this map did lead her to the part of the Eastern Mountains that were very prone to avalanches. “Why Anna? Why?”

There was a nervous and gentle knock on her door. “Your Highness?” Versa’s soft and reluctant voice came from the other side of the door.

Elsa quickly wiped the tears from her face. “What is it, Versa?”

“I need to speak to you... it’s kind of urgent.”

“You may enter,” Elsa said, though she found it ironic. Versa obviously was the one who laid this stuff on her bed in the first place.

The massive door opened and she nervously, and cautiously, entered the room as if her life was in jeopardy for merely coming before her presence. “We’ve kinda—sorta—have a slight problem.”

“What problem?”

“Arendelle is kind of being buried alive under a massive blizzard.”

Elsa knew what she was referring to; her broken heart was unleashing another out-of-control storm over the kingdom. She had been so wrapped up in her mourning, that she forgot that there was going to be a huge negative effect on the people of Arendelle. Even now that she knew, she couldn’t just stop mourning on a blink of a dime. Her sister had just died; there was no easy cure for that kind of a broken heart. “I’m so sorry; I can’t help it! I’m heartbroken,” her voice cracked, as she fought off the urge to break down in front of her handmaiden.

“I understand, Your Highness,” was all that Versa could say seeing the suffering that was going on inside of her. She dreaded this very moment since having learned of the incident. How could anyone expect someone to recover immediately after receiving news like this? There was nothing she could say or do to change anything. This was the queen’s curse to bare.

Elsa’s emotions started to show as she shook her head. “Why is this happening to me? Why do I have to be such a monster? Why can’t I just be... normal?”

As she said those words, she looked at the folded map in her hands. Anna had died trying to find a cure for her curse. She was so certain about what she would find that she sacrificed her life to attempt to go this location on the map. Their father sounded fairly optimistic in the pages, that Versa showed her, that there was a cure out there. Maybe she didn’t have to be the monster that she was destined to be. Her people were suffering because of her heartache; just maybe if she could rid herself of these powers, they would no longer have to suffer, and she could spend her time in mourning.

“Your Highness?” Versa looked at her inquisitively. 

“Prepare my horse; I’m going on a journey.”

Versa’s eyes could not display the horror any more clearly than they did that moment. “Please, Your Highness, we can’t afford to lose you too!”  
“It is for the sake of my people, that I have no choice BUT to go. Besides, I’m the snow queen; the snow doesn’t bother me.”

* * * *

Being stuck underneath snow, there was no telling how long they’ve been there. All Kristoff knew was that it had already been too long. He was using his pickax to dig a tunnel through the snow, and he was going as fast as he could. There was no telling how long it would take before they would suffocate to death, and he didn’t really care to find out either.

Occasionally, he would look back and check up on Anna. There was nothing she could do but to sit there, hug her knees, and watch him. He tried to push himself as hard as he could; he did not want her to see how tired that he was getting. To help, he started humming a tune that he tended to sing while out ice harvesting with other men. Humming the tune, helped him find his strength, as he matched the tune to the hacking of the ice. 

The little tune did not go unnoticed by Anna. “That’s a lovely melody.”

He looked back towards her with an embarrassed grin on his face. “Oh, that? That’s just a little song that we ice harvesters enjoy singing while working.”

“Really? What kind of songs do you men sing?”

Kristoff sighed, not wanting to divulge everything they sung about, out of sensitivity for Anna’s sister, but there, but Anna was going to find out the truth someday. “Well, we sing songs about ice, and sometimes about the legend of the Ice Witch.” Not wanting to see any look of distress or hurt on her face, he quickly explained. “It has nothing to do with your sister, please believe me! The stories and songs of the Ice Witch have been passed down from generation to generation. I’ve learned a few of the songs when I was just a little boy learning how to Ice Harvest. Funny, my family never really cared for the songs all that much. I guess I now know why.”

At first, Anna’s face remained expressionless. He couldn’t tell if she was offended by just the thought the songs of the Ice Witch could be a reference about her sister. He had avoided telling her telling about these songs and stories up to this point, because he feared that possible confusion. Now that they were going to be married, if they survived this, they knew each other well enough to know that he cared for her sister deeply. The queen would be his family, and he loved his family and would do anything to protect them.

After a few seconds of silence, she finally spoke. “Sing one for me.”

“What here? Now?” Kristoff stuttered, followed by a timely cough. “I don’t even have my lute with me.”

“That’s okay,” She smiled. “You were doing pretty well the way you were going with your ax.”

There was no getting out of it. She was not going to let him get away with not singing her one of his ice harvesting songs. “Err—ok, I suppose I can do one for you.” He turned back towards the tunnel and commenced digging through the snow to pick up the beat.

Snow thicker than her blood and ice colder than her stare   
Her frosty grip shows no mercy and leaves men in despair  
Her heart of ice will chill a man’s soul  
Her skin as white, as white as the snow  
Fear her reign  
Respect her throne  
And stay clear of the icy witch

Beautiful as the morning sun, and intense as the midnight moon  
Her powers are such that can make the strong man swoon  
Her eyes glows with unruly hate  
Her smile will lure you as her bait  
Fear her reign  
Respect her throne  
Beware the icy witch

He looked back to see Anna’s reaction. It was probably a very poor song to choose from; it would only remind her of what was happening to her sister. The look on her face clearly showed her being stunned. After an awkward moment of silence, she finally replied. “That was... nice. It was kinda creepy, though.”

He shrugged. “Hey, ice harvesting is a very dangerous occupation, and the men who do it are very strong, rigid, and abrasive. We just don’t sing about fluff.”

Anna grinned. “For someone who doesn’t like to sing about fluff, you’re fluffier than a big bunny rabbit.”

“Wait...what? I resent that!” He replied, slightly miffed. “I’m just as manly as the other ice harvesters.”

She chuckled at how cute he was when he was quickly trying to defend his manliness. The way his nose bulged when he was frustrated was just adorable. “Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to question your manhood.”

“Apology accepted,” he replied with a nod of his head. He turned back around to continue working on his tunnel. He then noticed something sticking out of the snow in front of him. “I found something!”

“You did? What is it?” She asked excitedly, trying to crawl over to him to see for herself. With so little crawling space, it was very difficult, especially when he was tugging at whatever he found with as much strength as he had. 

The item broke free from the snow so suddenly, his elbows shot behind him, and nearly clobbered her in the nose. Luckily, she managed to pull away to avoid it. She returned to where she was sitting as Kristoff was crawling back out of the tunnel. When he was out and sat up, he held up a familiar looking black wooden board. It was part of his sled.

Seeing it in his hand, she grimaced in embarrassment. She had once again led them on a trip that cost him his sled, something he valued more than anything. Growing up, the sled was the only thing he owned. As a boy, it was his key into manhood. He loved his little boy’s sled. He got it from his birth parents, and it was the only thing he remembered about them.  
No one knew what happened to his parents, and if Kristoff knew anything, he refused to talk about it. All Anna knew, from the stories he told her, that he found the Ice Harvesters as a young lad. They seemed to tolerate his and Sven’s presence. He then found the trolls, who took him in and raised him. Even at that time, he still hung around the ice harvesters because he grew up loving the work. When he was old enough, he worked hard to be able to afford his first sled. He was so proud of what he accomplished and to own his first personal possession, he cherished it to no end. He was so fond of it, that he was early on each and every payment he had to make on it. 

Sadly, he had just made the last payment on it when he met Anna, and on their journey, the sled fell off a cliff and exploded. As a result, Anna and her sister replaced that sled with this new and latest modal of ice sleds. He cherished that sled just much, if not more, because it came from her. Now, he had lost another sled helping her out. “I’m so sorry about your sled.”

He looked calm and collected as he stared at the board. He showed no emotions at all, which greatly surprised her. “It’s okay... it’s just a sled.” He stared at it for a few more seconds, before his emotions finally showed themselves. He let out a sigh and a heavy moan. “But I loved that sled.”

Anna couldn’t help it; she covered her mouth to try to hide the chuckling that broke forth from her. Once she managed to control it, she lowered her hands, to display a giant grin on her face. “BIG... fluffy... bunny.”

He looked at her dryly with a raised eyebrow. It was his way of saying that he was feeling insulted, but instead, it nearly caused Anna to burst out laughing. She was managing to keep it to merely snickering, but it took every ounce of her not to explode in a laughing fit. The look on his face was priceless! In a slight huff, he tossed the wood aside and crawled back through the tunnel to continue, hopefully, working towards freedom.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Elsa rode Cyphus with great urgency. When she rode out of the stables, she could hardly believe how much snow had accumulated so quickly. It was a repeat of two years ago, something she never thought would happen again. She had learned to control her powers so something like this would never happen again, but it appeared that she had never gained control of the curse, itself.

It was rough, at first, getting Cyphus to ride through the thick snow, but as soon as they were away from the kingdom, the snow levels diminished, and the intensity of the storm dwindled to a gentle snow fall. Once they made it that far, he stopped resisting the journey. As it turned out; the horse was not too fond of the snow. 

Keeping up a fast pace, she wanted to get to the final destination as soon as possible. She had no idea what she would find, once there. Would she find another family of trolls there or something else entirely? Something told her that whatever it was, she would know she found it when she saw it. 

She figured that she could save time by taking a more direct rout, through the forest. She could avoid some of the most treacherous parts of the journey by doing so, including the path where the avalanche had taken Anna’s life. She refused to follow that rout, out of fear of what she might stumble upon. Besides, it was a lot easier to cut through the forest with a horse than it was for a sled. There was no doubt in Elsa’s mind that Kristoff told Anna that when she probably insisted on taking a more direct rout. The forest was just too thick for sleds.

After awhile galloping through the forest, Elsa knew she had to give Cyphus a break. The realization of just how hard she’d been pushing him came as the weather started taking a turn for the worse. The wind picked up again and the falling snow became as thick as a white blanket. She pulled on the reigns and Cyphus was more than happy to take a breather.

She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the wind and the snow that it threw in her face. She had no idea if this storm was a result of her emotions or if it was a natural storm, but either way... it was impeding on her most urgent mission. Taking a deep breath, she fought with the emotions raging inside of her. She closed her eyes to keep out all visuals from distracting. With her heart so broken, it took A LOT of concentration to be able to control her powers. “Come on, girl. Conceal it... don’t feel it... don’t let it show.”

When her eyes opened, she temporarily had the spark of confidence in her eyes. She managed to hold it long enough to raise her right hand and swirl it around two full rotations. The wind immediately obeyed her and dwindled down to a gentle breeze, and the snow fall became nothing more than a flurry. The storm clouds thinned out just a bit, but it remained steadfast and unmoving. It was not a complete success, but it was enough where she could see where she was going and could continue her journey.

Cyphus became frantic, and nearly bucked her off his back. She pulled in the reigns to try to steady him. “Whoa, boy! What’s wrong?”

Her answer was quickly answered when the horse turned sideways, as to show her what had him on edge. Five white and grey wolves were standing there growling, preparing for an attack. And THAT was probably the downside to taking the shortcut through the forest. Their fangs were dripping with their drool, a clear sign that they were starving, which did not bode well for them.  
Not in the mood for this delay, she simply snapped her fingers. The snow behind her instantly began to rise and morph into shape, which quickly drew the attention of the wolves. The snow began to take shape of a familiar snow beast, claws and fangs made of icicles. It was the same snow beast she made two years ago to try to get Anna out of her ice castle. For some strange reason, she had given him the name of Marshmallow. 

The snow beast walked forward and put himself in between them and the wolves. He looked down at the five wolves who were stunned by the sudden turn of events. He took a deep breath and unleashed an ear piercing, nerve shattering roar down at the pack of predators, which quickly turned and ran for the lives amongst sounds of whimpers and cries. With the danger now extinct, Marshmallow was more than content to disintegrate back into the snowy ground. With everything calm once again, Elsa and Cyphus was able to commence on their journey.

* * * *

“Anna, wake up!” 

Anna’s eyes fluttered open from being shaken. Her eyes opened to a frantic Kristoff standing over her. She let out a groggy moan, wondering why he was so panicked. “What? I’m just resting my eyes a little.”

“No! Stay with me, Anna! Don’t fall asleep on me, do you hear me?” he said, shaking her again until her eyes opened again.

“Why? We’ve been down here for hours! What’s wrong with a small nap? Just one small...”

“You must stay awake!” he shook her again as she was again starting to succumb to urge to sleep. “If you fall asleep, you may not wake up again!”

They both were suffering from oxygen deprivation, but Anna seemed ready to surrender to it faster. She had no idea the danger that they were now facing with a lack of fresh air to breath. If they fell asleep down there, buried under the snow, then they would end up dying in their sleep. In a situation like this, sleep was the enemy. 

Anna sighed as she forced herself to sit up. She wasn’t totally sure why it was important to stay awake, and she definitely wasn’t sure how long she had the strength to do so. If it concerned him that greatly, then she was willing to try her best to fight against the fatigue that was starting to weigh heavy on her.

“Don’t be such a grouch!”

Both Anna and Kristoff were taken back by a new voice joining them in their little snow caved. They peered over to Anna’s right to see Olaf lying comfortably on his back, with his wooden hands serving as a pillow for the back of his oddly shaped snowball head. “Olaf!” Their shocked expressions came simultaneously.

“Man, you two were hard to find,” the snowman said as he sat up. “Remind me never to play hide and seek with you two. I just love this cozy little cave you made! For some reason it feels like home. Let’s stay the night!”

“How did you get in here?” Kristoff asked.

“Hello, I’m made of snow... and we’re completely surrounded by it. Getting through snow is not a problem for someone like me,” he responded, pointing to a tunnel that went around the left side of giant boulder. Olaf had to have started from near the base of the mountain. The tunnel was about the size of Olaf’s waist, which was the biggest snow ball of the little snowman. Down at the end, of the tunnel was Sven’s snout, sticking down from a hole that appeared to have been dug out by his antlers. 

“Sven! He’s alive!” Kristoff said excitedly. He had feared the worst for his reindeer. He was so glad to see that he was able to run to safety after being set free from the sled. 

“Anna, crawl through the hole towards Sven. Grab his antlers, and he should be able to pull you out.”

Anna nodded and rolled over onto her hands and knees. Before commencing her crawl, she couldn’t help but notice how narrow the tunnel was. She watched as Olaf was already sliding through the tunnel almost like a penguin. He had no problems traveling through this tunnel he made. She knew she was petite enough to make it through, but Kristoff...”

She looked back at him with a look of concern clearly depicting her doubt. He knew what was concerning her. “Don’t worry about me, I’m going to ax my way through,” he replied, holding up his pickax. 

Feeling better, she went ahead and crawled through the narrow tunnel. She could not even come close to the speed Olaf moved through it. It was less than half way through the tunnel when she discovered something about herself: she wasn’t too fond of tight spaces. She nearly hated it almost as much as closed doors. “You can do it Anna. Just keep moving. Just keep moving. Just keep moving.”

She kept her eyes towards Sven’s snout; she was afraid if she stopped, the anxiety that she was feeling would explode out of her. There were times where it felt like the tunnel was get longer instead of shorter. Finally she made it to the end, and having smelt her arriving, the reindeer titled his head and stuck his right antler into the snow. 

She reluctantly grabbed hold of the antler, not quite sure how to grab it in ordered to be pulled out of the snow. She was also concerned about holding it wrong, and hurting him. The reindeer pulled her up with such force, it felt like she was launched out of the hole. It was as if she weighed no more than a single goose feather. 

Now out from her captivity, her fatigue was slowly washing away. The chill in the air was a surprising welcome; the weather had died down to a steady flurry. The fresh air was so intoxicating, that she just stood there for a moment to take it in. 

Kristoff, relieved to see her free, he went to work hacking at the snow in an attempt to enlarge the tunnel. With a newfound determination and confidence that he was going to survive this ordeal, he pressed on has hard as he could. The fatigue from a lack of oxygen was still threatening to overtake him; however the new tunnel that led to a hole in the snow did bring with it a little relief. That gave him the additional strength he needed to keep moving forward.

Perhaps he became too overly excited, and that, in turn, caused him to be reckless. As his ax chipped away at the snow walls, the snow over him began to shift. “Oh no.” The snow tunnel collapsed on top of him, burying him in an untold amount of snow.

“Kristoff!” Anna shouted, as she watched the snow collapse from on top. The hole, his only means of escape, was now gone.

Sven shared the same urgency as she did. He knew full well what had just happened, and what it could mean for his best human friend. He franticly started using his antlers to dig through the snow. Olaf quickly joined in the dig. Anna had fallen into shock, and could only watch them dig franticly. In one moment, everything looked like it would be alright, and in the next... she was overcome with grief that she might have just seen the man, whom she loved, perish. It all happened so fast, she was having troubles processing it.

Sven and Olaf were digging as fast as they could through the now loosened snow. His large antlers pierced deeply into the snow and when he pulled up on his neck, a large amount of snow was flung up into the sky and disintegrated as it fell back to the ground. He refused to give up, as determination to save his friend fueled each and every dig. 

Anna had almost all but given up on seeing him alive, after a minute going by without any luck of finding him. Sven continued to keep up his strenuous pace until on one dig, he kept his antler in the snow. The expression on the reindeer’s face quickly grabbed Anna’s attention, and once again, hope was allowed to renter. 

The reindeer struggled to resurface his antler from the snow for a brief time, and that only served to motivate him to pull harder. After a few hard tugs, finally Kristoff’s arms and head reemerged from the snow. He let out a deep breath, to allow the oxygen to reenter his lungs. Sven pulled again, and this time, it was enough to get him only waist deep. It was more than enough for him to be able to climb out himself. 

As soon as he was back on his feet, Anna was on with such force, that she almost knocked him off his feet. “Kristoff! I thought... I thought...” Her mind failed to formulate the completion of that thought as she embraced him so tightly, that her voice was muffled into his shoulder.

“Anna... can’t... breathe!” he gasped. 

Anna quickly realized that she was doing more than just embracing him. Her arms were a little too close to his neck and were slowly suffocating him. She was just so happy to see him alive, that she never gave him the time to breath in the fresh air. She backed away to give him that time the he needed. “Sorry.”

He took a minute to breath in the fresh air. The smell of the crisp, clean fresh hair entered his lungs and slowly started restoring his strength. He looked up at Sven who was starting to nudge him, with his snout, to check up on him. “Good boy, Sven!” he said as he stroked his hand through Sven’s hair on his scalp. 

“I helped too!” Olaf reminded, wanting his share of recognition. 

“Yes, you did. Thank you,” Anna said as she knelt down in front of the little snowman. She leaned forward and planet a soft, warm peck on his snowy cheek. 

The expression of his face almost caused her to break out laughing. If Olaf hadn’t been made of snow, he would probably be blushing at that moment. He let out an ‘oh shucks’ form of chuckle before turning his large eyes towards Kristoff.

He looked down, dryly at the snowman. He knew that the snowman was looking for a similar praise from him. “I am NOT going to kiss you.” His reply matched the expression on his face. The slight look of hurt that came across Olaf’s face quickly told him that he couldn’t just drop the subject. He could also feel Anna’s eyes bearing into him, wanting him to do something to show some short of appreciation. There was no way he was going to kiss the silly little snowman. Instead, he would have to settle with a nod of approval. “But yes, you did good, too.”

That compliment seemed to suffice for the little snowman. Now that the awkward moment was past, they could address the more pressing issue at hand. Anna, was thinking on the same line as he was, when she asked the very question that needed answering. “So now what? Where do we go from here?”

“Well,” Kristoff stood up straight and regained his composure. “Our priority now should be to find shelter and keep warm. Seeing that we’re much closer to our destination than we are to Arendelle, I say we continue forward and hope we find a source of warmth.”

“But I lost the map in the avalanche!” Anna said, embarrassed that she had managed to lose their most important tool. She had no idea how they would ever find their way home, even if they were successful finding the mysterious destination that they were looking for. 

“One problem at a time,” he responded. “Besides, you’d be amazed to know just how intelligent reindeer actually are.”


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Elsa had made good time, and was now nearing the location on the map that was marked with a giant red ‘X’. Now that she was near the area, she slowed her horse down to a relaxing trot to allow her the time to keep an eye out. She had no idea what she was looking for. She didn’t even know WHO she was looking for. Her greatest fear, at that point, was to learn that there was nothing there at all, and that she had made this journey for nothing. That was something she could not handle. 

As they slowly made their way forward, the familiar smell of burning, pine wood caught her attention. It was a smell that she had always loved, but more importantly, it was a sign of life. The smell only grew stronger as they went on, and at last, she could see white smoke rising in the sky. It was a control burn from a fire place; the color and the amount of the smoke all confirmed it. There was no way a wild forest fire could take place here where all the trees were covered in snow. 

She urged Cyphus to head towards the smoke. At the very least, she knew she had at least found shelter for the night. Yes, the cold may not bother her, but that didn’t mean that she did not enjoy the comforts of a nice warm bed. If this wasn’t the place she was looking for, perhaps whoever she was about to meet would know what she was looking for.

Following the smoke, she found a single wooden cabin in the middle of nowhere. At first, she could hardly believe that someone actually lived in these mountains. However, seeing the cabin not completely submerged by the snow, made her believe that the weather wasn’t all treacherous on this part of the mountain. Someone obviously made their home here in the mountains, which meant they had a steady access of food and water. 

She dismounted her horse and tied the reigns around the trunk of a thin tree. When she was confident that he wasn’t going anywhere, she made her way to the front door. She passed a window on her way to the front door. She could see lit candle lights throughout the room. That was further proof that someone was home. 

As she stood at the front door, she fought with her nerves. Was this person the one who could remove this curse from her? She had caused more suffering to her people, and to herself, than she cared to believe. For the sake of her people, she needed this all to be true. She needed this curse out of her life once and for all. She needed to be normal.

After an internal battle, which felt like an eternity to fight, she found the courage and knocked on the door. She didn’t have to wait long before the door opened with an eerie creek emanating from its rusted hinges. A woman was standing on the other side. She was dressed in a simple and modest black dress which complemented her salt and pepper hair. She looked like she was old enough to just be starting her grandmother years, if she was married and had any children. Her posture suggested that she was probably quite literate and probably even well educated. Yet, her eyes seemed lively and ready to burst forth with friendliness. At the same time, there was something vaguely familiar about them.

 

The woman seemed to immediately recognize her; the moment she realized who was standing at her front door, she quickly bowed. “Queen Elsa! Your Majesty.”

“May I come in and keep warm for awhile?” 

“Please, Your Majesty, make yourself at home!” she stepped aside to allow the queen to enter her home.

Elsa kindly accepted the invitation and walked into this cute little cabin in the woods. She found herself in a cozy wooden room. She had never seen so much wood in all her life. Everything, including the few pieces of furniture, was made of wood. Immediately to her left was the fire place. It was the only part of the house not made of wood. The fire was lively and bright as a small black cauldron on top. Whatever was boiling from the pot smelt pretty good. 

On the other side of the fireplace, at the far end of the room, was a doorway into a divided segment. She couldn’t see enough to know what the other room was; she just assumed it was the dining room or something of that nature. Following that wall, that separated the two rooms, was a beautiful crafted set of stairs leading up to the next floor. The carpentry work on those steps alone showed that a lot of care went into building this quaint little place. There were a few hand crafted wooded furniture in the room, and something that looked like a hand crafted stand up mirror that was completely covered by a velvet bed sheet. 

“You have a lovely little place here.”

“Thank you, dear,” she said humbly, closing the door behind her. “Please excuse my appearance. I have long suspected and hoped that you would find your way here. I just had no idea that today would be the day. Care for some soup?” She asked as she pointed to the boiling caldron. 

“No thanks.” She couldn’t think about eating now, after that last comment the women made. It seemed just like a simple comment wrapped in a shroud of mystery. “Excuse me, but I don’t understand. You knew I was coming?”

Seeing that the queen was not in the mood to eat, she stepped away from the fire place. “If I may, let me just lay it all on the line. I have nothing to be ashamed of; I am a witch.”

“I see,” Elsa said, not quite sure what to make of this news, nor quite sure if coming here was a mistake or not. It appeared that this woman wanted to get something off her chest. Elsa decided that she should hear her out before making any decisions on anything.

“I knew both of your parents quite well when they were younger,” the witch explained. “When I heard that another witch tried to curse your mother, but instead the curse was laid upon you, I suspected that they would come to me to find a cure. It appears that they decided to go to the stone trolls first.”

“Wait, I was three when my powers first manifested. I wasn’t taken to the trolls until I was eight.”

“Ah, and that confirms my suspicion as to why your parents never spoke to me again,” she replied sorrowfully. “I was so afraid that they blamed me. Actually, the first time your parents took you to them was when you powers started manifested. The elder troll erased yours and your parent’s memories.”

“But why?” Elsa asked. “Why would they?”

“Oh, deary, please don’t get me wrong. The stone trolls maybe a little neurotic, but they are good bunch of little fellows. Your powers are the result from the curse of a devil’s mirror. It feeds upon negative emotions and self hatred. If you had known that what you were cursed, the negative emotions would have overtaken you a lot sooner. They took your memories so you could believe that these powers were something you were born with. Actually, it was a brilliant idea of theirs; I would have never dreamt of an idea like that.”

“So you never heard from my parents again since then?”

“No. For a long time, I thought they were angry at me for some reason. I started hearing these rumors shortly before your parents died. I never had a chance to make amends with them. I could only hoped that one day, that I would get to meet you and your sister.”

“I see,” Elsa said, as the mention of Anna brought back the stabbing pain to her heart. 

“How rude of me! Please, Your Majesty, make yourself comfortable,” the woman said, leading her towards one of the hand carved chairs. She followed her directions, but her mind was still overloaded with all this information and all the emotions of she was feeling. As she sat down, the witch could see the troubled look on her face. “I didn’t mean to overload you with information all at once.”

“Oh, no, I’m okay,” She said, waking herself out of her thoughts. When her mind returned to the present, her attention was caught by a very noticeable scar across her right palm.

“Wow, that’s a nasty scar on your hand.”

She quickly recoiled her hand to hide the scar. “Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just old wound from my reckless childhood.”

* * * *

After running as far as he could, Sven had to slow down to a simple walk for a bit. Since speed was currently not an issue, Olaf was just as happy hobbling through the snow on his own two snowball feet. Anna and Kristoff rode Sven, and when Anna started shivering, they switched positions so that she sat in the front. This allowed him to be able to embrace her and allow his body heat to warm her. 

“H—H—How much l—l—longer do y—y—you think i—i—it is?” Anna asked.

He had no idea how far they were from the destination. With the map lost, there was no telling where they were. Besides, he never got a good look at the map to be able to guess. He wasn’t fond of telling fibs, even the smallest white lies, but in the years he had known Anna, he had come to learn when she wanted the truth and went she just needed to be listened to and comforted. This was one of those times. Two years of knowing her, and that had been the toughest thing to learn about women in general. “I’m sure we’re getting close.”

No sooner did those words leave his mouth when he smelled a welcoming fragrance of burning lumber. There was a fire somewhere nearby, and when there’s fire, that usually mean there was someone who was trying to keep warm. “Do you smell that? There’s a fire burning!”

“A f—f—fire?”

“Yes! A Fire! Sven, follow that smell!”

* * * *

Elsa listened to more of her story. The woman’s name was Birgitta. As she continued on with her story, Elsa could not help but feel sorry for her; because of the actions of one of another witch, like herself, she had lost her friendship with her parents. She seemed like a nice enough lady, who was only glad to get meet one of the daughters of her late friends. The kind witch had no idea about what had just happened to Anna. That was one reunion part of her parents that she would never be able to meet.

As Birgitta continued to talk, her thoughts drifted towards her sister. Somehow, as she told her story, the topic of her sister kept on coming up. Each and every time, her heart sank deeper and deeper, as it was like continuously being reminded that her sister had just died. Her wall of emotions was taking a barrage of poundings and the wall was already fragile as it was. She had no idea how much more she could take.

The witch noticed something was going on inside of her, and quickly ended her story. “Are you alright, dear?”

“Who—wha—me? Oh, yes, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

She nodded to Elsa’s chair. Looking down at the arms of her chair where her hands were, and the wood was frozen over. Her powers were already seeping through. “I’m so sorry.”

Birgitta studied her for a few seconds. “Your curse is out of control, isn’t it? You’re hair is white, and your skin is losing its pale tone. You’re nearly as white as an albino reindeer. Something has happened.”

Elsa chocked back her emotions. There was no need to answer that question; it was pretty obvious that was why she was here in the first place. “I feel an uncontrollable rage burning inside of me, and it’s getting harder to control. It’s turning me into someone who I don’t want to be.”

Birgitta gave her a sympathetic smile. “That’s what the curse was meant to do to your mother. Why this curse infected you, as the first born child... I can’t be certain. The curse is designed to turn someone into a heartless, vengeful ice witch.”

“Can you cure me?”

Birgitta sat in her chair and simply stared at her for a moment. Elsa couldn’t tell if she was still studying her situation or she was actually hesitant to tell her. Elsa was in desperate need of a cure; she had to convince her to help her, if she had the ability. Finally, after letting out a heavy sigh, she responded. “Can I cure your curse? Yes. The question is... do you want to be cured?”

Elsa’s eyes lit up upon hearing a ‘yes’ coming from her mouth. She had been so afraid, and nearly expected, to be disappointed on this journey, that it never crossed her mind that she might be successful. “I need this cure. For the sake of my people, I can’t let them suffer any more because of me.”

Birgitta smiled gently. “You’re making this decision for the sake of your people, but what about for your own sake. This decision cannot be taken lightly.” She pointed to the hand-crafted stand up mirror behind the sheet. “I designed this mirror, similar to the devil’s mirror that cursed you through your mother. I created it just in case you ever came to me to be cured. There is one distinct difference, between this mirror and the other one, though. This mirror will only take this curse from you if you allow it. If there is any part of you that hesitates, your curse will only return with a vengeance and overtake you. Again, I have to ask... are you SURE that this is what you want?” 

The deal didn’t sound bad at all. There was no part of her that was interested in having these powers any longer. The town would be spared from any further harm, and she could have her time of solitude to mourn for Anna’s lost. As far as she could see... there was no downside.

Before she could say anything, there came a knock on the door. “Strange, who else would be in these mountains? It’s too early for Oaken to come by with his monthly deliveries.” 

She stood up and made her way to the door. Whoever was at the door knocked again, stressing great urgency for someone to open up. It didn’t do anything to hurry Birgitta up. She kept her calm pace until she reached the door. She carefully opened it up. “Hello?”

“Pardon the intrusion, but we’ve just been through an avalanche, and we’re wet and cold. Would you mind if we came in and warm ourselves by the fire for awhile?” Kristoff asked, embracing the shivering Anna in front of him to shield her from as much as the cold as he could. 

Anna’s eyes strayed beyond her and into her log cabin, only to see the last person she ever expected to find in these mountains. She was so excited; she broke free from his arms and inadvertently pushed Birgitta out of the way to step inside. “Elsa?”

Elsa was on her feet, in utter shock. It took her a second just to remember how to breathe again. “Anna? You’re alive?” she gasped, cupping her mouth in her hands.

Anna ran towards her and straight into her arms. Elsa embraced her tightly as she could not fight the tears from coming out to streak down her cheeks. The realization that this was really happening came the moment she was able to hold her sister in her arms. Her emotions overtook her and she found herself crying in her baby sister’s neck. “I thought I’d lost you!”

“I—I—I th—th—thought so to.” Anna stuttered.

Elsa was so happy to hug her sister again; she nearly failed to feel just how cold she was. It was Anna’s stuttering that quickly drew her attention to it. “Anna! you’re freezing!”

Kristoff stood frozen at the doorway, still in shock over the situation. When he realized that he was standing there and letting all the heat out of the house, he commenced to take a step into the house until a sudden blizzard blast of wind and snow hit him across the chest and sent him flying back out of the cabin, colliding with Olaf. A massively thick sheet of ice rose directly in front of the doorway from the ground until it reached all the way to the ceiling.

Anna and Elsa broke of their embrace to turn to see what had happened, but another gust of wind and snow threw the two women apart. Elsa ended up tripping and falling back into the wooden chair she had just been sitting in, while Anna hit the wall, right besides the front window. The impact knocked the wind out of her, and sent her down onto her knees on the ground.

Both women were stunned by how this was happening. Elsa first looked towards Birgitta, but she was standing out of the way. Instead, a new woman stood there, having entered the room from the next room over. Her right arm was still stretched out and her fingers pointing forward. Snowflakes twirled around her hand until she formed a fist. The flakes, mixed with magical, and wintery sparkles evaporated instantly. 

Elsa’s eyes could not open any wider, as she almost had to pinch herself. Seeing this stranger from the side, she was almost recognizable with her brunette hair. However, that did not make it any less shocking when she turned to look at Elsa straight on with her new glowing eyes and a devilish smile on her face. “Hello, Your Highness!” 

“V—Versa?”


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

“Versa?”

She grinned back at Elsa with confidence; something that was very strange to see on the face of the young handmaiden. Her whole demeanor was different as she stood there in the center of the room before them. It would have been a tremendous transformation to see, if it wasn’t for the worst. 

She wasn’t done with the surprises, either. She grabbed her brunette wig, and took it off, revealing a scalp full of very short, and probably shaved, white hair. She no longer resembled the girl that Elsa and Anna thought she was; this was a complete stranger standing before them. 

Birgitta stepped forward, deciding to break this awkward silence in the room. She had yet another surprise to reveal to the royal sisters. “You two girls should already know Versa, MY first born daughter.”

“First born?” Elsa picked right up on what the witch was trying to explain. The scar on her hand now made perfect sense. She remembered reading in her father’s journal that the witch had also been cut by the very mirror she created. She couldn’t believe she didn’t suspect it as soon as she saw that scar. That should have raised all the warning signs right there. “You’re the one who tried to curse my mother!”

“What?” Anna could feel her heart breaking. 

“Yes, I too was cursed by the mirror, so my firstborn ended up sharing your fate, Your Majesty,” she smiled. Her gentle demeanor immediately started to take a very dark and ominous turn. “I was the one that your father should have married. I was the one your father loved, until he betrayed me and viciously ripped my heart to shreds. I simply just wanted to return the favor in kind.” She took a quick glance at the ice blockade that her daughter created to keep Kristoff out of the house. He was taking his ax and trying to break through the ice, but to no avail. “When the curse passed to you, I was willing to wait a while longer to exact my revenge on Arendelle. Instead of your mother burying it in snow; it was going to be you. I even managed to sneak my daughter to sneak into your kingdome so she could watch it all unfold. But then, you found a way to control your powers. You found a way to manipulate the power in such so you can actually thaw a wintery hell.”

“Versa, why? Anna was on the verge of tears. How could she be a part of this? How could she break their hearts like this? “I thought we were friends.”

Versa only grinned. “Sorry, princess, but my cold heart wants something more valuable than friendship. I want what your sister has. You weren’t even supposed to be alive right now.”

Her sharp words merely plunged the knife deeper into Anna’s heart. “You caused the avalanche?” Her stuttering had slowly resided, as the warmth of being inside of the cabin had started warming her body.

“I’m responsible for everything, princess!” She grinned. “I created the missing pages from your father’s journal. I got you to foolishly take this journey to get run down by the runaway snow. While you somehow avoided death, at least it was enough to draw your sister here.”

“Actually, this is a perfect arrangement,” Birgitta said, wanting to get things back on track. “Your Highness, you don’t want these powers anyway, and my daughter does. This mirror will fulfill both of your wishes at the same time.” 

“And give you the power to bury Arendelle in an eternal winter? There is no way I’m going to help you do that. I am NOT giving you my powers!” Elsa replied and then jumped to her feet while waving her hand. She unleashed wintery blast of ice and snow toward Versa. She simply stood there as the mixture had somehow diverted itself around her. Her sneak attack had failed, and she couldn’t figure out why.

“That was rather pointless,” Versa grinned. “We’re both under the same curse. Our powers cancel each other’s out. You can’t hurt me, and I can’t hurt you. The same thing, however, can’t be said for your sister!” Versa unleash a magical blast of extremely cold wind right at Anna’s right arm.

She squealed in pain and was quick to cradle her arm across her chest. “Anna!” 

Elsa ran to her sister as the pain was so severe, that she could not get back onto her feet. She knelt down to see the damage done, but the slightest touch of her arm caused Anna to cry in pain. “Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!”

From outside, Kristoff saw what had just happened to Anna and was going frantic on the ice blockade. He was putting everything he could on each hack but the ice was impenetrable. He had never seen ice like this before. He was barely even making marks in it. On any other day, he would marvel at this sheet of ice, but the moment he saw Anna getting hurt; his love for ice found its end.

Elsa carefully took Anna’s gloves off and pulled up on her sleeve. Even she gasped when she saw the damage. Her arm was frozen, and the ice was still slowly climbing up her arm. “What have you done?” Elsa glared daggers towards Versa.

“I just gave you a reason to want to give me your powers. Give them to me now, and maybe the worst that might happen is that she lives life with one good arm. However, she’s already in a weakened state. My guess is that she might have a few hours, at most, before she freezes to death.”

Anna was barely hanging to consciousness; the pain was doing its best to try to put her asleep. Her determination to help Elsa was the only thing giving her strength. “Elsa, don’t!”

“I don’t have a choice, Anna. I’m not going to lose you again!”

 

Elsa: Is there a way through this darkness?   
Anna: Please be strong; you must not give in

Elsa: Can I escape the storm that rises?   
Anna: You’re not the monster you see within

Elsa: Can anyone stop this uncertainty?  
Anna: Be the woman you were always born to be

Elsa: I just can’t contain this anxiety.  
Anna: this has always been your destiny

Elsa: Anna, please don’t ask me to let you go!

Elsa: Must I be the one...   
Anna: You can be the one...

Elsa: ...the one who breaks your heart  
Anna: ... to stand for right and wrong 

Elsa: And watch it all just fall apart!  
Anna: that power’s been yours all along

Elsa: Must I be the one...   
Anna: You can be that one;

Elsa: ...to watch your kingdom fall  
Anna: Don’t let me hold you back

Elsa: Must I be the one...   
Anna: Please just let me go  
Versa: No more with the delays

Elsa: ...to disappoint you one last time  
Anna: I’d rather die than hurt your more  
Versa: I’m going to set the land ablaze

Elsa: Don’t know if my heart can withstand this crime.  
Anna: Whatever you do, just don’t close your door  
Versa: Give me what I want, there’s no other choice

Elsa: Must I be the one...   
Anna: Please just let me go  
Versa: I will have what’s yours

Versa: Your powers are now MINE!

Versa ripped off the sheet from the standup mirror. Elsa didn’t have the time to avert her gaze. It was almost instincts that made her look back at Versa as she unveiled the new devil mirror, and the moment her eyes laid upon her reflection, she felt like her spirit had started being ripped from her body. 

White, glittery sparkles were being pulled from her body and swirled towards the mirror. The whirlwind of snowy sparkles bounced out the reflective surface of the mirror and went straight at Versa who stared at her image in the mirror. Both women were going through major transformations. Versa white hair magically began to grow to full length before it turned mostly icy blue. The texture of her exposed skin became like snow. Her eyes became a very dark, eerie blue and her humble hand maiden’s dress became a royal, white gown that would be the envy of many queens. 

Elsa took a different form of transition as she cringed at the pain of having a part of her soul ripped from her. Hey icy blue queen’s dress vanished, by segments until she was back in the black and green dress she wore at her coronation. Her skin returned to its natural pale complexion. Her blue eyes faded, into a very light green, almost brownish tint. It was the same color of her father’s eyes. Her white hair returned to its light blonde state temporarily, but that did not last long. Her hair darkened until it became a dark brown with a little reddish tint to it. 

When the mirror was done with its dirty work, Versa was hardly recognizable. Her white gown made her look at least five inches taller. Any warmth of compassion she might have had before, was now long gone. In its place, there was a new, very cold, heartless aurora emanating all around her. With a violent swing of her hand, ice spears crashed through the mirror with such force, that it shattered. The wooden frame cracked and the reflective surfaces shattered into dozens of pieces.

Elsa was mentally disoriented by the ordeal. With her powers gone, she felt very... different. It was going to take some getting used to the change, but she didn’t regret it in the least. As long as she knew that Anna would be alright. “Alright, you have my powers. Now, save my sister!”

Versa’s face remained as emotionless as a stone as she looked towards the two sisters with her glowing eyes. “I think I will leave you alone so you can say your goodbyes.”

“What! But you...”

“I never said anything about restoring her health,” She said coldly. “Besides, I am an ice goddess. I freeze things; I don’t do warm. You coming, mother?”

“You bet,” Birgitta replied. “Now, your majesty, if you’ll excuse us, we’re off to Arendelle. After all, revenge is a dish best serve cold... or in this case... frozen.”


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

He just couldn’t take another hack at the ice. Kristoff’s arms were sore from the pounding he put on the ice, and after all that hard work, he was nowhere near getting through this icy blockade. He was struggling to catch his breath and could only watch as some strange magic was going on in the cabin. He wasn’t sure what exactly had happened, but all he knew was that Anna was hurt, Elsa looked... different, and so did the handmaiden. 

Was it Versa that put up this ice wall in his path? What was she doing up here in these mountains in the first place? He had his wild guesses, and none of them painted her in a very flattering manner; especially based on the things he saw happening inside. He needed to get inside somehow, but he was out of ideas on how to accomplish it. “Darn it! This ice is too thick! I can’t break it!”

“And you call yourself an ice harvester,” Olaf said, wobbling up to the sheet of ice, and pushing him aside. “Stand aside; I’ll knock down this wall of ice!”

Kristoff did just that, but not because the snowman had asked him to. He stood aside when he saw Versa and the other woman coming towards them. Still oblivious to what was going on inside the cabin, Olaf prepared himself to take his try on the sheet of ice. He took a deep gulp of air into his whatever he had that allowed him to breathe. There was still so much about the snowman that Kirstoff was curious about, including how he was able to breathe or smell when he didn’t even have lungs. To him, this magical snowman was a walking enigma. 

As he took his deep breath, the ice sheet exploded into a handful of giant fragments of ice. One of those fragments slammed right into Olaf’s face, knocking his head off from his body. His little arms raised up in victory as his muffled voice came from a snow pile near a tree, and behind the piece of ice. “I did it!”

Without the head, Olaf’s body staggered off, not quite sure where it was going. It managed to get out of the way of the doorway as the newly transformed handmaiden and the older woman exited out of the cabin. Kirstoff wanted to go after the women. He didn’t know what was going on, but his instincts told him that they were trouble. At the same time, he knew that Anna was hurt, and that was more important to him than anything at that moment. Besides, they were more than content to ignore him completely. If he did anything to convince them otherwise, that might bring more pain to Anna.

He watched as they walked away from the cabin. They were ignoring Sven and Cyphus so either they were more than happy to walk to wherever they were going, or they had another form of transportation hiding somewhere. When they were far enough away from the cabin, he went ahead and ran inside the cabin, slamming the door shut behind him. He joined Elsa at Anna’s side, who was on the ground, leaning back against the wall. “What happened?”

“She froze Anna! Versa froze Anna!” Elsa replied, still in shock. 

“And what happened to you?” He asked, unable to keep his eyes off of her brown hair which made her look so different. 

Elsa looked down in shame. “She took my powers.”

There were still some important pieces of the puzzle that was missing. There was so much to catch up on, but when he saw Anna’s arm, his priority quickly changed. He looked over at the fireplace, where a fire was still raging strong. “I’m going to get her over to the fire. Find a blanket, or something to wrap around her arm.”

Elsa nodded, and jumped to her feet to search the house for a blanket or a towel. Kristoff carefully and gently scooped Anna into his arms as if she was a fragile glass statuette. Despite how gentle he tried to be, Anna cried out in pain with the slightest amount of movement. “Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!”

The pain was too much for her, and even before he was able to lay her down besides the fire, she had fallen into unconsciousness. Despite her blacking out, he was extremely careful laying her down on the hard wooden floor. As he did, he heard the sound of the front door opening. He could hear the familiar annoying chuckle, and that was all he needed to know who was entering the cabin.

Olaf closed the door, with his carrot nose in his hand. The carrot was broken in half and barley hanging on by a thread. He looked down at the carrot, and realized that there was no fixing it. He tossed it behind him and walked forward. He walked right past and Anna and Kristoff, as his focus was solely on going into the next room. Elsa nearly tripped over the determined snowman. There were a few times when Olaf got so focused on an idea, or thought, that everything else just disappeared. Trying to hold a conversation with him when he was like that was especially frustrating. During his first experience with summer, he got so focused on flowers, no one could hold a conversation or ask him a question without him babbling on about flowers.

Olaf entered the other room, and after a few seconds, the sound of refrigerator opening came from the room. A few more seconds later, the door closed and he let out a joyous chuckle before coming out of the room with a new carrot nose. It was then he noticed Elsa and Kristoff kneeling around Anna in front of the fireplace. Elsa was wrapping Anna’s right arm in a towel as close to the flames as they dared. “What happened?”

“I failed, that’s what happened,” Elsa replied. “I failed Arendelle... I’ve failed Anna... I’ve failed myself.”

There was a gentle knock at the front door. Olaf was quick to make his way over to answer it. “I’ll get it!”

“Olaf, don’t... it might be...” Elsa urged, but to no avail. She was afraid that Versa might be coming back or who knows what, but Olaf was so focused on answering the door; there was just no getting through to him. He had to take a small leap to be able to reach the door handle to open it. It didn’t even provide a challenge for him; he had opened enough doors for it to become like second nature to him.

When the door opened, the little snowman had a delightful surprise standing there. Grand Pabbie and two of other members of the stone troll family stood there, waiting to come in. “Hey guys!” 

Pabbie’s facial expression was solemn, to say the least, as he and the other trolls entered the cabin. When they saw Anna on the floor by the fireplace, they knew that they were already too late getting here. The three of them rushed over to provide any aide that they could. Kristoff could not have been more surprised to see them there in the Eastern Mountains. “Grand Pabbie?”

“I sensed danger coming from this mountain, but it appears that we may be a little late. What happened?”  
“Anna’s arm was frozen,” Kristoff said, showing him her arm. The ice was quickly climbing up her arm towards her shoulder. It had already overtaken her hand. It was as if her arm was made of solid ice. “Is there something you can do for her?”

“Hmmm,” He studied her arm and could sense the magic that was responsible for this. This magic differed from what he was expecting. It was much more potent, mixed with more vile than he had ever felt. “This was done by someone who’s been deeply overtaken by a devil’s mirror’s curse. I can ease her pain, at best, but the vile behind the magic is greater than my abilities to heal.”

He gently placed a hand on her forehead. Slowly, her facial expression of agony diminished, as it looked like she was now in a much more peaceful sleep. Seeing the change calmed Kristoff’s nerves slightly, but he knew that she was still very much in grave danger. 

“I’ve done what I can for her,” Pabbie said as he turned towards Elsa. “And you, Queen Elsa. What happened to your powers?”

The elder troll’s gaze was so intense, that she could not get herself to look into his eyes. She was so embarrassed of herself, that she wished she could go back into her self-isolation. “I had no choice but to surrender them to the witch. Now, her daughter has them in addition to what she already has.”

“And now, the daughter is an ice witch: the very thing that you were in danger of becoming,” he concluded. “Tell me, why did you feel it was necessary to give them up?”

“I was tricked.”

“Were you? I think there was more to it than just that. Am I right?”

Again, his gaze was too much; they were piercing through her soul, and bringing up memories she did not want to remember. The memories of the Duke of Weaselton was the most dominating memory to plague her, and all the times that he had called her ‘monster’. “I was tired of feeling like a monster. I was tired of always having to hide my feelings and emotions. I was just tired of it all.”

“Who told you that you had to hide your emotions?” He challenged.

She didn’t understand the question. He knew full well who, because he was the one that encouraged them to teach her this. “My parents have always told me to. Since the incident with Anna, I’ve always been engrained with the saying, ‘Conceal... don’t feel... don’t let them know.’ I’ve had to learn that and repeat it for all my life.”

“Is that REALLY what he said?” Pabbie pressed. He reached out and gently placed his cold, stone hand on her forehead, and then pulled it back as if he was pulling something from her head. That’s exactly what he did, as tiny blue sparkles came flowing out of her head and formed a bubble in front of her. In the bubble was a memory that she had almost forgotten. Her father was sitting beside her on her bed, on her first night of being in her own bedroom, separated from Anna. 

His warm smile touched her heart, and she fought against the tears that were trying to escape her eyes. It was the most vivid image of her father she had ever seen watching her him sail away on that fateful trip. It was almost as he was still alive. “Now, Elsa, you need to always remember to be the good girl that you have to be. Conceal it... don’t feel it... don’t let it show.”

The image changed to a time when he had just bought her a pair of thin white gloves to help her avoid skin-to-skin contact. He slid the glove gently on her hand. “Remember, conceal it...”

“Don’t feel it...” the young Elsa continued the phrase that her father was instilling in her.

“Don’t let it show.”

The magical bubble disappeared, leaving Elsa very distraught. All this time, she had been misquoting her father, and teaching herself something that her father had never meant for her to learn. Since her parents passed away, that phrase that her father had been trying to instill in her, ‘Conceal it... don’t feel it... don’t let it show’ had been changed to, ‘Conceal... don’t feel... don’t let them know’. Perhaps she was unwittingly changed it to comfort herself after her parents died. And then, somehow, it stuck to her brain and she used it to try to avoid feeling anything.

“You see, your parents never meant for you to learn how to hide your feelings; they were trying to teach you to sense that raging storm inside of you and to control it,” Pabbie said. “If you could control the curse, then you could laugh and you could cry of broken heart, and your powers would never manifest itself unless you willed it to do so. Everything that lives has feelings and emotions; it’s impossible to conceal them. All you managed to do was to bottle them up until they exploded at your coronation.”

Elsa listened to him intently. She could feel a new wave of self-confidence fill her soul. Everything he said made perfect sense. She may have learned how to thaw winter, but that didn’t mean she had learned to control the curse. There was a difference between controlling her powers and controlling her curse. She had never understood that until now, when it was too late. Or maybe... it wasn’t too late.

She stood up and went over to the bed sheet that had been covering the mirror. She picked it up and started ripping a small section from it. “What are you going to do?” Olaf asked.

Elsa took the small sheet and carefully grabbed one of the jagged pieces of the mirror on the ground. She carefully wrapped the sheet completely around it. She remembered that Birgitta cut her hand by a fragment of a shattered devil’s mirror. That meant that even in pieces, the power still remained intact. “I’m going to save Arendelle!” She stormed towards the door, with a new found determination to stop Versa from destroying her people.

She half expected Kristoff to protest her going alone to face her and the witch, but he ended up surprising her. “Be careful, Your Majesty. I’ll take good care of Anna.”

She smiled towards him. Under most circumstances, she would refuse to leave her sister’s side. There was very few people she trusted to take care of her sister in this kind of circumstance. Kristoff was one of those few. “I know you will.”


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Elsa pushed Cyphus as hard as she dared. There was no time to waist; there was no telling what Versa might unleash when she arrives to Arendelle. There was also no way to be certain how far ahead she was. With her heart fully frozen over, there was nothing to stop her from doing her worst. Elsa knew full well what it was like to lose control of yourself and to allow the inner demon to take control. Of course, Versa was further in its clutches than she was. 

Hidden in her coronation gown, was the mirror fragment. The problem was that it would only work if she could convince Versa to give up her powers, which seemed to be a very tall order. With the curse fully taken over her, the handmaiden was now a full blown ice witch. There were no more emotions or feelings let in her. Trying to convince her to give up all that power would take a miracle and a half. Perhaps it was never going to work. That didn’t mean that she could just give up on her and her people. She had to try to save Versa, even if it meant sacrificing her own life.

She knew full well that things may not go well for her. Elsa was glad that Anna was not conscious when she left her at the cabin; how could she explain this to her? If Anna had known, she probably would have been so stirred up, that it may hasten her demise. Kristoff didn’t know enough of the details about what she was attempting to do; if he had, he probably would have protested just as much as Anna would have. Now, that she was well on her way back to Arendelle, there was no stopping her mission.

* * * *

Versa and her mother didn’t go directly into Arendelle. Instead, they found a very fortuitous cliff, overlooking the town, the castle, and the Fjord. The town was to their left, fairly close to the base of the mountain that they now stood on top off. The fjord was directly at the base of the cliff and pretty much wrapped around the castle which was dead ahead.

The storm already raging over the kingdom had already frozen the water surrounding the castle. The snow blanketed over the town and the massive castle. Given a few weeks, then the all of it would be buried alive, but she had no desire to wait that long. It was time to speed things along. With a swirl of her hand, a dark, white mist swirled around the castle, blanketing it in a grayish-white mist. The winds pounded mercilessly on the castle, throwing giant amounts of snow at it.

The storm that now swirled around the royal castle was comparable to what Elsa had inadvertently set off two years ago. Creating a storm of equal destruction was not enough for Versa. Arendelle deserved much worse, and she was about to give it to them. She conjured up more of her icy magic. From the accumulated snow on top of the frozen fjord, three forms started to take shape. The blobs of snow grew until they stretched ten feet tall and at that point, they took a more definitive shapes of a human form. They were like ten feet tall snow giants, but with no definitive features like a face, fingers, or anything of that nature. They were more like just like shadows made of snow. 

They three giant snow shadows started to cross the Fjord and pressed on towards the gates of the castle. Walking on the frozen water, they were able to bypass most of the walkway. However, once they reached the walls of the castle, they were going to have to climb up onto the walkway to get to the gate. For ten foot tall snowmen, that wasn’t going to be much of a problem. 

* * * *  
The storm had just taken a turn for the worst, which immediately had the captain of the guard on high alert. He knew that the queen’s heart was broken from the loss of her sister, but there had to be something that could be done to ease her broken heart so the people of this kingdom didn’t have to suffer. At least, at first, he just assumed that this storm was the queens doing. After looking out the window and out towards the mountains that towered over the town, something suggested that this might not be the case.

He could see two figures standing on one of the cliffs, but it was impossible to make them out clearly. The fact that there were two people standing there, gave him a very strong feeling that something else was going on. The fact that the storm had picked up as soon as those two figures arrived could not be a coincidence. 

Finally the storm became so strong, that a grey mist blocked his view of the mountains and the town. The stormed intensified even more to the point that he could almost hear the howling of the wind and the snow pounding on the window. This was a repeat of two year ago, but there was still something that felt different about it. He just couldn’t put a finger on what the difference was.

A scream came from the first level of the castle. It was the scream of one of the female castle workers, and it sounded like she was in trouble. With his hand on the handle of his sword, which was stored in his sheath, he ran down the main stairwell which delivered him directly to the main gates. That was where the workers were at. They had the gates open to watch the extreme weather that was going on outside.

“What is it?” The captain asked.

The question came out of his mouth unnecessarily, as when he looked outside, he saw exactly what had the workers freaked out. Three snow giants had kicked in the outer gates and were storming towards them. 

“Quick, get inside!” He urged the workers. They were more than happy to oblige and the women in the small group squealed as they ran to hide. The captain could not blame them for being scared... heck, he was scared, himself. There had never been an attack on the castle before, let alone an attack from giant snowmen. How could anyone be prepared for something like this?

He rushed to close the main gates and barricaded the door to the best of his ability. He knew right away that there was nothing that was going to keep those things from getting inside. It was up to him to defend this castle once they did get inside. He would die before he allowed the castle to fall. That was the oath he took, and an oath that he took very seriously.

As he finished barricading the door with whatever he could find, a handful of his fellow soldiers had rushed over to him, having heard the screams themselves. The captain didn’t even give them time to inquire about the situation. He pointed to two of the men. “You two, go find as many men you can to help defend the castle, and hurry!”

“Yes, captain!” the two young men said and immediately separated to run in different directions to find as many soldiers as they could.

“You three, draw your swords and prepare to defend the castle!” He ordered, just as the giant twin doors buckled. The pounding the door took echoed through the castle, announcing to all who resided inside that trouble had come knocking at their door. 

* * * *

When Anna opened her eyes, the instant sensation of being crowded over swept over her. Kristoff, olaf, Pabbie, and two other trolls were all looking down on her when she awakened. At first, she couldn’t remember falling asleep or why there was so much concern radiating towards her. It was only when she tried to move when everything came back to her. She could not feel most of her right arm, and what little she could felt like it was on fire. 

“How are you feeling?” Kristoff asked, fluffing up a blanket that he had put behind her head to try to make her as comfortable as possible.

“I’ve been better,” She said drowsily. She looked around all the friendly faces around her; she quickly noticed that one was missing. “Where’s Elsa?”

Kristoff looked conflicted as if he was debating whether or not to tell her the truth. She could tell that she was not going to like the answer, as much as he probably didn’t like it either. “She went back to Arendelle.”

“Arendelle?” She knew exactly what he meant. Versa was on her way there to bring a wintery hell over the kingdom. If Elsa is going there, then she was going there to try to stop her... without any powers. If she was going there without powers, then she was walking into grave danger. If Kristoff and Grand Pabbie were here, then it was even worse than she feared because she was going alone. Going up against an Ice witch and a sorceress without any powers of her own was virtually suicide. “Kristoff, help me up and take me back to Arendelle!”

“Anna, the journey could kill you,” he protested. 

“My dear, the fire is slowing the freezing process. Leave, and it will rush straight to your heart,” Pabbie added.

“I don’t care. Take me... to my sister!” Anna said firmly.

Even in her weakened condition, Kristoff found her frustration very intimidating. When she got like this, it usually was a good idea just to give her what she wants, but how could he do it if it meant her dying? Did he dare disappoint her so she lived longer, or should he keep her happy in what could be her final hours? 

As much as he hated it, he obliged with her wishes. He helped her up onto her feet, while the trolls took the blanket that she had been using as a pillow and unfolded it. They gave it to Kristoff who wrapped it around her to try to keep her warm for the journey.

Olaf went to open the front door for everyone, and the sting of the cold weather came rushing into the cabin. Kristoff had to help her to walk in her weakened condition. Together they slowly made their way out into the cold. Tiny white flakes, continued to flurry down. Their feet crunched in the snow as they stepped outside. Running to them in excitement, Sven could not contain his joy to have them finally come out of the cabin. He smiled towards the reindeer, before a sudden realization dawned on him. “Sven can’t carry all of us. How are we all supposed to get to Arendelle?”

Anna was too out of it to be able to contemplate on such a puzzle, but she was glad that she didn’t have to do so when she heard the sound of bells jingling towards them. Coming down the path from their right was two horses pulling a cargo sleigh, one very similar to the kind of Sled that Kristoff had just lost. The person driving it was covered from head to toe, with no exposed skin to the harshness of the weather. He slowed the horses down until they came to a stop in front of them and the cabin. 

When he stood up and dismounted, a very tall and hefty man stood before them. It wasn’t until he spoke with thick accent when Kristoff and Anna recognized him. He unraveled the scarf from his face to further confirm his identity. “Yoo-hoo! Oaken Trading Post here for the weekly delivery!”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” he grumbled. How was it possible that he would be making deliveries all the way here in the Eastern Mountains?

“Wait a minute? I remember you, you called me thief!” Oaken said, his eyes staring daggers towards Kristoff. 

“Oh come on!” Kristoff complained, “How long are you going to hold a grudge? It’s been two years! I’m sorry, already, for calling you a thief!”

“Apology accepted,” He replied. “Bye-bye now!”

“Wait! We desperately need to get back to the kingdom as fast as possible. You may not like me, but please, will you do it for her?” He pleaded as he looked to Anna by his side. Anna managed a faint smile, despite the rapidly increasing amount of pain that she was enduring.

Oaken looked over at Anna for a brief second before a smile returned on his face. “I will do it for the lovely princess, who just so happens to be my favorite customer. Everyone hop on board, and I will take you to the kingdom.”


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Oaken lived up to his word, and was making haste, following the faint tracks left behind by Elsa and her horse, Cyphus. With this trip more of a downhill trek, Olaf was more than content to slide through the snow like a penguin sliding on his belly. Sven was running beside the other side of the sled. Everyone else was in the back of the sled. Kristoff was doing his best to keep Anna warm and comfortable, but he feared that he was failing miserably on both fronts. Even with Pabbie trying his best to ease her suffering, the pain was only getting worse. 

“The spell is moving rapidly now,” Pabbie said remorsefully. “I fear that time is running out... fast.”

Kristoff looked into Anna’s eyes, clearly wanting to go back and get her by the fire, but the determination in her eyes told him that there was no point in bringing up the matter. “Just get me to my sister... I will be alright.”Kristoff continued to look at her, not liking the idea of going on in these circumstances. He was too concerned about her; nothing else mattered to him. She could see that written on his face at that moment. She wanted nothing more but to assure him that things would work out, even though she wasn’t convinced of it, herself. “I will be alright.”

Her assurance could calm his fears, but it still did bring a smile on his face. She didn’t want him to worry about her; but a part of him loved worrying about her. He always loved that about her. Despite everything that was going on right now, he could resist her charm and her piercing gaze. Just by the look on her face, it was as if he felt himself being drawn to her. Anna was feeling that same force, and she closed her eyes. As his face drew near, he slightly angled his head to the right and their lips locked in a heated passion.

Pabbie looked up at the two young lovers, and he wished he could say something. That kiss that they were sharing, whether they knew it or not, was slowing the spell down tremendously. If he told them, then he feared that they would continue out of necessity instead of passion, and that would do nothing to slow the curse. It was the passion of the moment that was doing the trick. Before, there was no way the princess was going to make it back to Arendelle, but now, that possibility had improved greatly. The longer the two were able to stay in the moment only helped her odds all the more. 

* * * *

The gates were ready to give way to the pounding. They had managed to hold back the snow creatures long enough for over a dozen soldiers to come and defend the castle. Everyone there had their swords drawn, but the captain of the guard could feel the nerves of his men. While they may have trained for this, none of them every really believe anything like this would ever happen. 

The giant twin doors finally could not hold them back any longer; they swung open violently, and the three snow figures ducked under the doorway to enter the castle. The archers that he had stationed at the top of the steps unleashed a barrage of arrows at all three of them. Each arrow found their marks, but did nothing to slow them down. They stuck into the snow, but accomplished nothing but to agitate them further. 

He and his men on the first floor went to work on them with their swords. They were remarkably quick for giant snow figures, but they weren’t the smartest either. The Captain had to leap to avoid one of the snowy fists as it came pounding down into the ground. As long as they continued to try to squash them instead of swatting them, he and his men had a chance. Before they had the chance to figure it out, he had to eliminate at least one of those things, and he had an idea that might just work.

He was there with prince of the Sothern Isles when they were looking for the princess two years. Instead of finding her, they found the queens ice castle, and the snow monster that she had created. He remembered the prince had severed the leg of the monster which caused it to eventually stumble off a cliff. There was no cliff here, but maybe it would be enough for it to tip over and shatter in harmless snow.

He did just that, after avoiding another fist, he went straight at the closest snow figure, and went as close to the leg as he could and swung his sword. It was easier than slicing through water; there was no resistance at all. He almost pulled a muscle having swung so hard for no reason. The leg was sliced and it fought to keep its balance on one leg for as long as he could. Gravity finally won, and the giant snow creature fell forward and shattered into a blanket of snow spreading across the floor. 

Hope began to rise that maybe they could overrun these things with relative ease; however, that hope was quickly dashed when the snow started coming back together. It wasn’t even a minute before the fallen snow figure had come back together completely, minus the few arrows that had been previously stuck in him. 

There was no killing these things. Even if they managed to take one down, some kind of magic would only allow them to come back together and continue their rampage. There was only one thing left the Captain could think of that might work against these things. “Defend this castle at all cost!” He shouted out to his men. He then turned to two of the closest soldiers to him. “You two, follow me!”

He led them through a maze of thrown snowy fists and stomping snow feet to reach the other side. He led them out of the castle and away from the action. The two soldiers looked at each other, wondering what was going on. “Captain, where are we going?”

He remained focus as he led them to the stables. “We’re going after the source of the problem... I hope.”

* * * *

The storm continued to spread, much to the dismay of Birgitta. It had grown so immense, that it had gotten very close to the cliff they were standing on. The wind was bringing up the snow onto their cliff, and now the level of it was still rising up. 

At first, she tried her best to put up with the rising snow and the bone-chilling wind. After all, she was finally witnessing the fall of Arendelle. Everything she dreamed off for the past five years were now coming to fruition. She just as well assume put up with a little discomfort, but the little discomfort was quickly becoming extreme hardship. 

“Perhaps we’re a little too close; the snow here is quickly rising. If we stay here, we may wind up being buried ourselves,” she suggested to her daughter. 

Versa barely even acknowledge her existence. She merely just looked over at her from the corner of her eye with a look of disgust. She flicked her wrist upward, and ice spears pierced through the snow all around her mother, caging her in an icy cell. 

Birgitta was stunned to find herself suddenly imprisoned. She tried to slide through between two ice spears, but the gap was too small even for her to get through. “Versa? What are you doing?”

“Do you really think I’m really that naive? Did you really believe that I didn’t know that I’ve been nothing more to you than an instrument for your revenge? Maybe I allowed you to control me until I got what I wanted. Now that I have it, maybe I don’t need you anymore.” She said, swerving her head towards her mother, pointing her cold, emotionless eyes towards her. 

Those words were more painful than she thought they would be. This was her flesh and blood, and she was going to just leave her to freeze to death. That was kind of a harsh punishment for a daughter to inflict on a mother. “But I’m your mother!”

Versa looked away, still showing no signs of emotions on her face. “You’d be breaking my heart... if it wasn’t frozen solid.”

“But...why?”

“Because your daughter is not in control of herself,” A voice said from out of nowhere. Both women turned around to see Elsa cautiously approaching them. Her royal steed, Cyphus, was already well on his way back to the fortress. Elsa did not want him to get hurt in what was about to transpire between her and Versa. “Your daughter never had the loving support from you growing up, as I have. There was never any way for her to be able to control the curse or her powers.”

“So, your sister is dead, already. She was even weaker than I gave her credit for,” Versa said snidely.

That remark enraged her, but she was determined not to show it to Versa, who was trying to draw it out of her. She merely narrowed her eyes. “This has nothing to do with her. This has to do with defending my people, who are suffering because of you.”

“How disappointing,” Versa returned. “Here I thought you’d come to try and exact revenge. I would have valued killing you all the more.”


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

“Versa, look at yourself, this is not you. It doesn’t have to be this way,” Elsa pleaded. If she was ever was going to get to use the mirror fragment to rid her handmaiden of the curse, she had to convince her to be willing to give them up. It was a long shot, but it was the only one she had.

Versa’s face remained cold and frozen; showing no emotions whatsoever. Hatred was clearly running her emotions, but her face did not show it just as it did not show happiness. It was as if her face was permanently glued on neutral. Unfortunately, that made it impossible to predict what she was going to do next. “I say it DOES!”

With a wave are her arm, several icy spears formed in mid air and launched towards her. The snow made it hard to gain traction, especially trying to run in high heels, but she managed to avoid being impaled by them nonetheless. 

“This power is amazing. I can do whatever I want, and no one could ever stop me,” she said as she used her magic to lift piles of snow up from beside her. She figured if she could bury her in snow, she would make a much easier target for one of her spears made from giant icicles. She waved her wrist, and the floating clumps of snow shot at her like two giant snowballs. Elsa dodged the one coming at her left side, but had to leap to avoid the other one coming from the other side. “I gave you a chance to live out the rest of your life. You should have just runaway. It was foolish of you to come back here.”

“If you don’t understand why I came back, then you’re not ready to be the Snow Queen,” Elsa replied, as she pulled out the mirror fragment. It looked less and less likely that she would be able to convince Versa to give up her powers. She would have to hope that that the fragment would do something to help even the odds up. If not, she was not going to come out of this encounter unscathed. 

Versa saw what she was doing and quickly unleashed a small, magical, wintery blast in her direction. Elsa jumped and took shelter behind the trunk of the tree, which was the only way she could have avoided being turned into ice. When the icy blast had past, she stepped out from behind the trunk, only to realize that she had dropped the mirror fragment dodging the blast. Versa took full advantage of the moment, and pointed her right palm towards the sheet covered fragment lying on top of the snow. She unleashed a stream of frigid weather, and the fragment quickly became encased in a solid block of ice. “What were you trying to do... take my powers from me? There’s NO way I’m giving them up. Not ever!”

* * * *

The captain and two of his men pressed their horses to ride through the harsh blizzard conditions. They didn’t like it much, but they were specially trained to obey the riders at any cost. If the guards ever needed to use them to prevent an invasion, it was imperative that they had horses that would not buck in the intensity. For horses to be that willing to risk their lives, they had to be broken and then extensively trained. It was not like that for the royal horses meant for the Queen or the Princess. All those really needed was to be broken to get their wild nature under control. You didn’t want the royal women to be on a horse that could go wild and throw them, which could result in server injury. 

They ran through the streets of the town, until they reached the other side. The base of the mountain was right there on the outskirts. With the snow accumulation, it was impossible to see the faint trail in the wild grass. It didn’t matter; the captain was familiar enough with base of the mountain to be able to follow it anyway. It was his duty to protect the castle and the people of Arendelle. He took it upon himself to be familiar with every possible way into the town and to the castle. 

As they started up the mountain, the blizzard conditions calmed down into a consistent snow fall. Visibility was much better now, but he still needed to depend upon his bearings to find where he thought he saw the two people on a cliff. He could not look back to the castle to gather it because of the gray clouds that fell upon the castle. He was going solely by his memory. He was doing his best to keep his bearings sharp, to be able to see in his mind’s eye where they were in comparison to where the castle was. It took concentration so sharp, that it was nearly giving him a headache. 

He pressed on, leading his two men towards the cliff. He could hear strange sounds coming from up ahead that were impossible to describe. There was some kind of commotion, and he knew that he had found the right cliff. As they grew closer, the sounds began to sound like some kind of struggle was going on, but when he heard a female voice amidst the commotion, he knew that now was the time to dismount from their horses. 

He raised his hand to signal the other men to halt. Everyone pulled on their reigns and brought their horses to a stop. The animals obeyed without hesitation. The three of them dismounted and found some tree trunks to tie the reigns around, to prevent the horses from leaving. He held a finger up to his lips, to signal that they were to remain quietly and to move forward in the same manner. With their hands on the handles of their stowed swords, they advanced through the snow, trying their best not to make too much noise with each step in the snow that went up past their ankles.

They made their way towards the cliff, but stopped when they saw three women in what looked like some kind of duel. One of them women looked a lot like the former queen of Arendelle with her brown hair and traditional royal garment. It was then he realized that it was actually Queen Elsa, who looked identical to her mother. The captain could only wonder what had happen to her light blonde hair and her icy, blue, sparkling dress. 

There was an older woman, imprisoned by a series of icicles surround her. He recognized her immediately from the days his past. It was the sorceress who committed treason towards the late King and Queen. Now, this situation was starting to make sense, and it made even more sense when he saw the other women, who looked like a white witch. Her skin was as white as the snow, and her royal gown was sparkling white. Her hair was long and icy blue, which was the only thing that broke up the mundane whiteness. The queen was in a battle for her life against this snowy witch who appeared to have the same kinds of powers Queen Elsa did. The only thing was, for some reason, the true queen wasn’t using her powers.

* * * *

Sven had sprinted ahead of Oaken’s sled and two horses. Kristoff was glad that he did, because his reindeer had a good sense about him, and knew where they needed to go. Oaken had never been to the kingdom before, and had no idea exactly where to go. It made Kristoff more comfortable knowing that they were following his reindeer. Getting back to the castle without hindrances was the most important thing right now. 

Anna was struggling to stay awake. She as cold as ice to the touch. Kristoff had her arm wrapped in a blanket and held her in his arms to allow his body heat to warm her, but her body continued to getting colder. The ice was now up to just shy of her shoulder blade; she did not have much longer.

Sven took an unexpected turn to the left, which did not go unnoticed by him. Oaken, not knowing better, steered his horses to follow. “Wait! Where are you going, Sven!” Kristoff shouted. “The Castle is the other way!”

Sven swung his neck around to look back at him without losing his fast pace. Kristoff knew that look on his face all too well. It was a look that told him that he needed to trust him. He had come to know that face quite well, and he knew that it was a wise choice to do so; Sven had never lead him astray before, and his sense in knowing where they needed to be at the right time. It was also possible that he heard something down this path. Either way, he decided to trust the reindeer and allow him to take them where they needed to take Anna. 

He didn't have to wait long to find out where Sven was taking them. Up ahead, he could see all three women; the Queen had already engaged with the two creepy looking women, but there was a turn of events that he could not explain. The older woman was trapped in an icy cage created by the white snow queen. What caused this was the last thing he was concerned with. Anna wanted to be taken to her sister, and that's exactly what happened; but, was it already too late?

Oaken saw what was going on and pulled in on the reigns to bring the sled to the stop. He had no idea exactly what was happening, but seeing the strange woman in all white made him feel that he was getting into the middle of something very dangerous. There was no way he was going to get any closer to this intense scene. 

As Kristoff helped Anna out of the sled, her eyes were fixated towards her sister. "Elsa." she said softly, already feeling as if she was too late to do anything to help her. 

Elsa saw them up ahead, and wished they had not found her. Their presence there presented a real problem for her and for themselves. Who knew just how low Versa would go. The last thing she wanted was for her to turn her wrath towards them. That fear was realized when Versa turned to look back at them. “It appears your stronger than I give you credit for,” she said coldly. “Perhaps it’s only fitting to watch your sister share the same fate you did.”

Without warning, she unleashed an icy shockwave from her body. Kristoff was able to protect himself and Anna by looking away and taking shelter under the blanket that wrapped around her. They were far enough away to be able to avoid the blast, but Elsa had no chance. She could not dodge or hide behind the trunk of a tree. The blast hit her heart, bringing with it a severe pain. 

“Elsa no!” Anna cried out helplessly.

Elsa clenched at her heart as her chest immediately began to freeze. This blast was much different from the one she had inadvertently hit Anna with; the ice was spreading immediately, giving her no time to do anything to save herself. As the ice quickly spread, all she could do was look towards Anna with apologetic eyes. 

There was so much she was sorry for in her life. She was sorry for nearly killing her when they were just young kids. She was sorry that because of that incident, she had been forced into seclusion with Elsa. She was sorry for a lifetime of choices she made that seemed to do nothing but hurt her. Even now, she was hurting Anna in these final seconds. It was like she had been born to hurt her little sister, and that was Elsa’s biggest regret. 

All of those things could be read in her face as she apologized for a lifetime of hurt through her eyes. Realizing that Versa and her mother were watching, she was not going to allow that apologetic look to be frozen on her face. She stood up straight, and lifted her chin in defiance as the icy spell climbed up her neck and wrapped around her head, leaving her nothing more than an ice sculpture.

“Elsa, no!” the strength in Anna’s knees gave out, and if it wasn’t for Kristoff catching her, she would be lying face first in the snow. He was doing everything to keep her warm in the blanket, especially now that he feared that she had just lost her will to keep on fighting.

The captain of the guard, watching from their hiding place could not stop the overwhelming sorry that came sweeping over him. He had failed in his duty to protect the Queen of Arendelle. She was the best queen the kingdom had ever seen, and he had allowed her to die prematurely, at the hands of a sworn enemy of the kingdom. He didn’t deserve his position... he deserved the gallows for his failure.

Versa turned towards the two of them, he face still emotionless even after her victory. “How fitting that you got to witness your sister’s demise before, your own. It’s kind of poetic in a way.”

Grand Pabbie took several steps forward, in front of Kristoff and Anna to address the ice witch. While the two humans were clearly heartbroken, the elderly stone troll seemed more empathetic towards her. “You seem so sure that you’ve won. I recognize the magic to create the mirror at the cabin,” His gaze went towards Birgitta. “You feared to repeat your mishap of the past and intermingled white magic with the black. So the queen had to be fully willing to give up her powers in order for mirror to work.”

Despite what her own daughter was doing to her, she would not betray her. She was glad the queen was gone, and it was only a matter of time before the rest of them would share their fate... especially those nasty little stone trolls. “Yeah, so what?”

“I’m coming my queen!” Olaf screamed, inadvertently interrupting Grand Pabbie’s conversation. He was more concerned about what had happened to Elsa. He hobbled as fast as his little snow feet would go through the thick snow, but his path towards the queen would bring him right in front of Versa, who looked down at him with disgust.

“Annoying little snowman!” She waved her hand as if to slice the air before her with her hand. The snowman took one more step before exploding into snow dust which slowly flurried to the snowy ground.

Versa looked up to address the troll, wondering what point he was trying to get to. She was interrupted before she had the chance to demand him to do so. “Whoa! What a rush!”

Versa looked downward to see Olaf putting his carrot nose back into place. “Wha?” She again used her powers to cause the little snow man to explode into snow dust, but almost immediately afterward, a tiny, magical whirlwind appeared to bring the little snowman back to life. She then noticed the one thing that she failed to noticed just then; it was a sign that she should have paid more careful attention to. The magical cloud that followed the snowman around had never disappeared. The cloud was still there, and continued to bring the snowman back to life every time she tried to destroy him.

Birgitta looked back towards Pabbie with a look of shock on her face. The expression on his face clearly showed that he knew that she and her daughter had suddenly realized what was happening. “So what? It means that your plan was doomed from the beginning.”

A bright, blinding light grabbed everyone’s attention. Versa and her mother had to shield their eyes as they turned to see a blinding light coming from behind the frozen Queen of Arendelle. Magical white sparkles intertwined with the falling snow flakes and it twirled around her. She was lifted up ward off the snowy ground, and the ice started to crack. The light was so bright, that all anyone could see was a shadow in the light floating off the ground. There was no doubt the things falling from the shadow were the fragments of the ice that was cracking.

The shadow started showing free flowing movement; the arms where whirling, as to control the magic that was surrounding her. Finally, the right arm stuck out far enough from the light to show Elsa’s fleshy pink skin and the royal green sleeve from her dress. However, some of the magical sparkles started to cling to her sleeve, and turned it to icy blue.

The bright light dimmed slightly, just enough to show Elsa, completely free from the ice that she had been incased in. Her eyes were closed as if she was drawing powers from everything that was spinning around her. Soon, her royal green and black coronation dress began to magically change into her wintry snow queen’s gown with the thin, silky cape that draped all the way to the ground. 

Elsa shook her long brown hair as the sparkles began their work on that as well. Her hair transformed from her the reddish brown hair that her mother once had, to the light blond hair that she was unnaturally born with. It started from the roots at the scalp of her head, and the transformation flowed down to the end of her long braided ponytail. She opened her eyes, and her light greenish-tan eyes turned to the same icy blue eyes she was born with. 

With her transformation now complete, she slowly floated towards the ground. The closer she got to touching the snowy surface, the more the snow melted. When her feet finally did touch ground, it landed on a dry, grassy land. The rest of the snow all over the kingdom melted rapidly as the clouds that were surrounding the castle vanished and the sun shone brightly over the kingdom. The frozen waters of the fiord immediately thawed as the leftover snow that was still on the ground started rising to the sky. 

* * * *

One of the soldiers defending the castle found himself knocked helplessly to the ground. Before he knew it, he was looking up at a giant snow foot that was about to come stomping down on top of him. Expecting to have his life taken from him, he waited for death to come. Instead, a large pile of snow came plopping down on him. He sat up in the small mound of snow cold, wet, and confused. 

* * * *

Every last flake that had fallen upon the land had either melted away or drifted upward into the sky to form one giant magical snow flake. When all the snow was off the ground across the entire kingdom, she flicked her wrists to cause the giant massive snow flake to disperse and disintegrate. 

The display of magic was breathtaking to watch. Sven enjoyed it more for the floating snowflakes that he enjoyed trying to catch, but Kristoff was always fascinated with magic. Spending his entire young life with the trolls, it was impossible NOT to be intrigued by that kind of stuff as much as he was with ice. But as he watched, his mind was replaying Pabbie explanation of what was about to happen. It didn’t take much to conclude what the wise troll was saying. “So, there was a part of her that DIDN’T want to give up her powers?”

The troll nodded to confirm his curiosity, but Birgitta was still confounded by this turn of events. “If that’s the case, then her curse should have turned her just like my daughter!”

Versa stared over at her with daggers in her eyes. Whether she meant to or not, the mother had just confirmed her crime towards her. The only reason Versa had not brought a quicker demise to her was that she had no real confirmation of how deep the treachery went. 

“It would have,” Elsa replied stepping towards Versa. “If I hadn’t learned how to separate it from my emotions.”

Elsa gave a faint smile towards the elder troll, whose words at the cabin had saved her life... literately. Sick of all the talk, Versa struck like a viper, and launch a large, pointy icicle straight for Elsa. However, the Queen of Arendelle didn’t even have to wave a finger for the icicle to melt before reaching her. She tried again, this time with three icicles, but was met with the same results. She then tried a wintery burst, but it was as if there was a bubble around her; nothing her powers could conjure up would break through. The more she failed, the more her icy face broke into an expression of rage and anger.

Elsa only returned her angry look with a gentle and warm smile. Now standing directly on front of her, Versa stared dagger at her breathing heavily after unleashing that heavy barrage of attacks. She gentle placed the palm of her right hand on Versa’s chest, just over her heart. Immediately, she squealed and fell to her knees.

White sparkles came floating out of the spot where Elsa had touched her. It quickly grew in intensity and the sparkles multiplied until they were coming from all over her body. Slowly, her skin returned to a more natural pale colored skin. Her bluish hair faded back to her natural brunette color and her dress slowly turned back to the more modest handmaiden dress. When the transformation was complete, Versa was back to her old self.

“What did you do?” Birgitta asked, in utter shock. Everything that’s transpired in the last few minutes had her so unsettled that she failed realize that she was no longer imprisoned by large icicles. 

“I thawed her heart, and removed the curse,” Elsa replied.

“I—I’m free?” 

“Is—is that possible?” Anna asked Pabbie, still fighting with everything she had to stay awake. She was now fully dependant on Kristoff to remain on her feet, but soon... even that would not be enough.  
“Only now that her powers are fully developed and fully controlled. Her powers are now stronger than they’ve ever have been before.”

Elsa made her way towards Anna with more urgency. Now that any threat to her and her sister was gone, she could now go and save her sister. With Anna needing this much help to stand, Kristoff could only hold her up; it took the assistance of the three trolls to remove the blanket that wrapped around her arm. They did so as tenderly as they could, but they could not spare Anna completely of the pain. “Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!”

Her entire arm was frozen solid and completely immobilized. Elsa gently touched her icy wrist and white sparkles began to swirl around until her entire arm was glowing. The glowing was bright and radiating for a few seconds before it dimmed. When it vanished, her arm was normal. 

Anna found new strength as she stood up on her own power; the change was so sudden that it caught Kristoff unaware. She looked down at her arm and wiggled all her fingers and clenched a fist. There was no stiffness or anything; it was as if she had never lost her mobility in that arm at all. “Elsa!” Anna leaped to embrace her sister, not because she had just healed her arm, but because she was so happy that she was alive. 

While Anna was hugging her sister, she saw something on the grass just past Elsa. When they finished their embrace she walked over and picked up the mirror fragment that was still covered in the torn sheet. “Now that Arendelle is saved, you could live a normal life, if you really want?”

Elsa looked down at the mirror fragment in her sister’s hand and took into her own. “You know... I’m happy with who I am... just the way I am.” With as much physical strength as she could summon, she threw the fragment over the cliff. It fell all the way down into fiord where it sank to a watery grave.

The only one not enjoying this moment was Birgitta, who had just watched everything she had worked hard for come undone. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Arendelle was supposed to be buried in an eternal winter. All nations should be fearing her daughter and treating her as the Snow Queen. “No! This can’t be it! Versa, do something!”

Versa looked up at her mother with a scolding look on her face. “Stuff it, mother!” the look of shock on Birgitta’s face was unmistakable. The hurt on Versa’s face was just as much. Tears moistened the sides of her face. “You used me. You knew I was struggling to keep control of myself with this curse that I never asked for. Instead of helping me, you tricked me and allowed my heart to be frozen and turned into a person I never wanted to be. You knew that this curse was changing me into a horrible person, and yet you used that to help you get your revenge on the people of Arendelle who are completely innocent of any wrong doing. What kind of mother are you?”

“But... but...” she was at a loss of words. There was no remorse for her actions in her face; she was merely sorry that her daughter was turning against her. Versa knew her well enough to know the difference, and the expressions on her mother’s face were only making her nauseous. 

“I’m no longer your daughter,” Versa said with a horse voice. It was a painful thing to break that mother-daughter bond that they had, but her mother’s actions clearly showed that she didn’t see Versa as her daughter... only a pawn. The bond was broken by her mother a long time ago, but that still didn’t mean that it hurt any less to acknowledge it here and now.

“Veras... wait!” Birgitta didn’t have the chance to plead her case. The captain of the guard had ordered his two men to detain her. Each man grabbed her by a wrist and they commenced carting her away to be thrown into prison until a decision could be made by the Queen’s court. 

Versa turned and cautiously and humbly approached Elsa and Anna who had watched the whole ordeal between her and her mother. “My Queen... my Princess... I accept my punishment for the crimes that I have committed against you and the people of Arendelle. Before I’m imprisoned, though, I want you to know how embarrassed and ashamed of my actions. I am SO deeply sorry for my betrayal of your trust and the pain that I have cause both of you. I just wanted you to know that before I go.”

The captain of the guard walked up to Versa, with wrist chains ready to go. She offered her wrists to the captain, showing no signs of resisting. Before the captain could lock her wrists up, Elsa raised up a hand. “That won’t be necessary, captain.” She turned her gaze towards Versa. “You’re not going to prison.”

“I’m not?” Versa was confused. The captain of the guard nodded his compliance to the Queen’s orders and stepped away from the young handmaiden.

Elsa smiled. “No, we’ve got a wedding to prepare for.”

“Really?” Versa’s eyes threatened to release more tears as she turned to face Anna; the one whom she had hurt the most in this ordeal.

Anna’s eyes were just as warm and forgiving as the Queens, and she even surprised her with an embrace. It took everything she had not to break out crying. After the pain she had caused her, almost bringing her to the point of death, the Princess was quick to let her know that all was forgiven. She deserved to be hung from the gallows for her crimes, but instead, she was being shown love, mercy, acceptance... and forgiveness.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The heavy snowfall had caused a tremendous amount of damage to the wedding décor that had been in the garden. So much so, that the wedding was delayed for a day. It was impossible to delay it any longer than that; most of the visiting diplomatic dignitaries would need to get back to their countries or kingdoms. Versa was working her tail off, as well as all the workers of the castle; they were putting in countless number of hours to fix what could be fixed, and to salvage what could be salvaged. A part of it was because she felt that she need to prove herself after having her transgressions pardoned, but she was determined to make this wedding as spectacular as possible.

With the ice melted, the final few dignitaries arrived by ships, including one that was not so welcomed to Arendelle. No longer did the ship arrive to the port when Kai and five soldiers arrived to prevent the Duke of Weaselton from even getting off the ship. “You are not welcomed here in Arendelle. If you step foot off your ship, you will be incarcerated. Depart from our waters, immediately!”

“But I’m the Duke of Weaselton! I’m of royal lineage! How long will you hold my mistake against me?” The gray haired man with a monocle protested. Not only was all trade cut off with Weaselton after the Duke’s near treasonous acts towards Queen Elsa, but all relationship as well. Since then, the Duke had tried countless times to try to get back into the good graces of the queen, but she was not biting. She knew that he was a greedy old man, who was only looking to regain an opportunity to exploit Arendelle’s riches. As long as she was queen, no one from there would be allowed to set foot in the kingdom, especially for a royal wedding of this magnitude. The funny thing was... none of the other countries and kingdoms had any interest in helping him get in either, thus this last desperate attempt to find a way to get into the wedding.

Finally, the ship would take off, and the Duke would make his way home. With that distraction take care of, everything else went just swimmingly. At last, the day of the wedding had arrived. Somehow, Versa had organized everything just in time. 

Everyone had gathered in the garden on this beautiful sunny day. Never has the outer courts been so packed with people. The visiting dignitaries had the best view of the wedding, sitting the closest to the altar. Everyone else was in the back. With this many benches set to seat this many people, the red, wedding-aisle runner stretched a rather lengthy distance reaching almost all the way out of the garden into the front court. Versa stood in the back of everyone, making sure everyone was where they needed to be and to make sure everyone walked down the aisle in the proper order. 

Off to the side of the altar and the onlookers of the ceremony was a small but complete wedding orchestra that comprised of all the typical woodwind, percussion, string, and bass instruments. At the start of the ceremony, the violins were the most notable sound of the orchestra. 

The first to go down the aisle were two little flower girls dropping red and white flower peddles onto the runner. The next down the aisle were two violinists who played their instruments as they somehow stayed in formation and walked in unified succession. Following the two violinists was Kristoff. He wore a handsome black royal suit, but with a little of his flair thrown in. It was a red on black royal suit with a red scarf tied around his waist as a belt. 

He walked down the aisle, and was immediately uncomfortable. Yes, all the eyes upon him made him a little squeamish, but this suit was far worse. He fought the urge to tug at the collar to relieve some of the stiffness. With everyone watching him, he could not afford to look foolish. He took his spot on the left side of the altar (on his right). From there, he watched the rest of the small parade coming down the flower covered carpet. 

Two more flower girls came down the aisle, providing a thicker cover of flower peddles, and two more violinists followed suit. Behind them was Elsa holding onto her bridesmaid’s bouquet in front of her with both hands. She still wore her wintry snow queen’s gown, but her hair was braided and pinned to her scalp. Her tiara-like diamond crown was nestled gently on top of her head; it was something she only wore during royal events like this.

All the people in each row bowed their head to pay their proper respect as she passed each row. As she neared the altar, she could not help but noticed that one particular young and handsome prince had his eyes on her. Slightly unnerved by the looks that he was giving her, she chose to ignore him and take her place as the bridesmaid, which was behind where the bride would soon stand. Perhaps her minds were just playing tricks on her? When stood at her position and he still had the eyes of a love-struck-young-boy towards her, she knew that it wasn’t just her imagination.

The wedding orchestra changed their melody to the royal anthem of Arendelle, which brought everyone to their feet. Now, the trumpets became the dominating sound in the music, but the violins and other instruments flowed evenly and complimented the blaring trumpets quite nicely. The Bride was at last coming down the aisle. Upon seeing the bride for the first time, nearly everyone gasped at how beautiful the princess was. Her dress was a beautiful, V-down, Basque waist silhouette with a cathedral train. The bodice was with mostly green on top of white with dark green details with a lighter green outlines to them. The details were also showered with glittering diamonds and gold sparkles. Below the bodice was a satin, white, ball-gown skirt that touched the ground. The cathedral train that followed behind her was made of transparent material known as chiffon and it extended six feet behind her and laced up to her waist. 

Her strawberry blond hair was braided up pinned to her scalp as she wore an elbow-length, over-the-head veil. The material was thin enough to easily see her beautiful blue eyes and face hidden behind it. When Kristoff saw her for the first time in her wedding dress at that very moment, he nearly lost his composure; he had never seen her so beautiful in his life. She looked more like an angel from heaven rather than a princess. 

As Anna walked down the aisle, holding her large bouquet in hands, she had to catch herself from singing to the royal anthem. As a kid, she did more than just talk to paintings... she often made up words to the enticing melody of the music. As she grew up, the words would always change to the mood her heart was in, but the gist of it always remained the same through the years. The trumpets were now blaring the tune with such intensity, it brought shivers down Anna’s back, and she nearly wanted to sing those words that she had put to the music years ago: For the first time in forever. 

Each and every row of people she walked past, on both sides of the aisle, the eyes staring at her were so large, that she felt a little embarrassed. When she first tried on the dress, she felt like she was a bell that should be hung in the chapel tower. That was, however, only her first look at the dress. Since then, MANY modifications were made to make this dress absolutely stunning. It was so beautiful, it felt like it should be a crime just to wear it. However, none of the eyes looking at her were so large and so piercing than the eyes of the man looking at her at the end of the carpet.

After the long walk down the aisle she finally made it to the altar, and the service finally began. As the two of them stood facing each other, they were so infatuated with each other, the words of the priest almost faded into the background. The priest gave almost an entire sermon, as was tradition, but the long speech only aided itself fading into the background in the minds of the two lovers.

They managed to refocus on the ceremony in time for their first participating event of the ceremony. Kristoff had to lift the veil over her head before he was given a golden chalice with five different-colored royal jewels melded near and around the rim. He held it in front of Anna’s face so she could sip the burgundy wine in the chalice. After her sip, she took the cup and did the same for him. 

When they were done, the priest took the chalice and the ceremony continued. The end was quickly approaching, and was apparent when it became time to exchange the rings and vows. Kristoff was given Anna’s ring, and he took her soft, pale hands and gently slid the it onto her finger. He recited his vows, repeating everything the priest told him to repeat word-for-word. It was then Anna’s turn to do the same. With His ring in her hand, she took his massive and rugged hand and slid the ring on his finger as she repeated her vow. 

“Now, by the power invested in me by God, almighty, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride,” the priest concluded the ceremony.

This was the moment both Anna and Kristoff were waiting for. They were now officially married, and could now share their first kiss as husband and wife. There was no moment of hesitation; their lips met as if they had been denied access to each other for far too long and were at last reunited. It went beyond just a simple, passionate kiss; it was something magical, that neither wanted to end right away, no matter how undignified the other royal dignitaries thought they were being. 

* * * *

Anna and Kristoff had no idea where Elsa was taking them. They were supposed to be heading for the banquet hall for the feast that awaited them, but Elsa had pulled them aside and said that she wanted to give them their wedding present. What type of present was she talking about that they had to go this far away from the party? When she said ‘present’ she figured it would be a wrapped up gift that they could just open in front of everyone. That wasn’t what was happening. 

They followed her to a part of the castle that she did not recognize. It was a huge castle, with hundreds of rooms. This was a corridor that she had never walked down before. In fact, she would swear that this was closed down for construction. “Elsa, where are you taking us?”

“You’ll see.”

She led them to a large double door at the end of the corridor. Elsa could hardly contain the excitement about what she was about to unveil. Her body was vibrating from the intense enthusiasm; it was taking everything she had not to squeal like an excited teenage girl. She pulled the two doors open and stepped aside so the newlyweds could enter the room.

As soon as they got their first clear view of inside the room, as soon as Elsa stepped aside, their eyes bulged with awe. They didn’t enter the room... they were drawn into the room by the two giant ice sculptures in the dimly lit room. The first one was of Anna facing forward, holding her hand in front of her. Her face was serious as the whole sculpture presented her as a royal princess... as it should. The other sculpture next to hers was of Kristoff. He showed proper royal posture wearing a royal prince’s suit, yet it somehow captured his true personality perfectly with his facial expression. 

Both sculptures were detailed beyond any ice sculpture they had ever seen. As the two of them marveled at them up close, they could vaguely see through the ice. Inside of both sculptures, they could see a blizzard raging wind blowing. They could see it from every inch of the sculptures.

“Do you like it? These sculptures are made so they will never melt. As you can see, inside them there is a raging blizzard going on with extremely low temperatures. The pressure inside prevents any of it from escaping, thus always keeping them frozen and preventing them from melting.”

“I think I’m speechless!” Kristoff said, admiring the craftsmanship that she put into these sculptures. He loved ice, and he knew a lot of ice carvers, but the work put into these statues was beyond anything he had ever seen.

“I love them!” Anna squealed as she turned to her older sister and hugged her. This was the greatest gift Elsa could have ever given them. 

Kristoff turned towards Elsa after the sisters had finished their embrace. “I’m at a loss for words. They’re absolutely gorgeous! Thank you, Your Highness.” He bowed to show the proper respect to the Queen of Arendelle. 

Elsa wasn’t satisfied with just a simple bow. He was taken by surprised when she rushed in and embraced him tightly. The young man was stunned beyond words; Anna could only chuckle when she saw the look on his face. He was not used to such a personal contact with the queen, so to call this an awkward moment for him would be a huge understatement. 

When she released him, she took a step backwards with a smile on her face. She knew how stunned he was by the tension in his body when she hugged him. “You’re family, now. Get used to it.”

* * * *

The food at the banquet was the best that anyone in the royal family had ever had. Anna had always been the picky eater in the family, and even she couldn’t get enough of it. The chef had gone above and beyond preparing the food for this special occasion. If rumors were to be believed, he had worked together with a top notch chef from France, who came to Arendelle, to assist in this scrumptious meal. 

Well the meal was so good, that Anna almost got a little annoyed whenever someone clanged on their glasses, calling for the newlyweds to stop eating and kiss. There would be plenty of time for kissing, the food was so good, she didn’t want it grow cold. She enjoyed the food almost as much as she enjoyed chocolate. 

But when the food was gone and everyone had their fill, everyone made their way towards the ballroom. There, the floor was busy with couples ballroom-dancing in the center of the room. Anna and Kristoff were in the heart of the crowded floor, sharing their first dance as newlyweds. Their movements on the floor were graceful and precisely in sync with the other dancers to avoid colliding with them. 

Elsa stood and watched them dance, never feeling more proud of her baby sister than she did at that very moment. She enjoyed standing there, watching her sister dance. She was glad that Anna had finally found true love, even though it didn’t come in the way she least expected. 

As she watched her sister, a young prince nervously approached Elsa. It was the same prince that she had noticed looking at her at the wedding ceremony. During that ceremony, his gaze towards her made her very uncomfortable, but now that his face was out from amongst a sea of faces, she had to admit that he was rather cute. “My Queen, my name is Prince Edward, prince of the kingdom of Beiluge. Would it be presumptuous of me to ask if you would honor me with a dance?”

“It’s a very kind offer, Prince Edward, but I don’t really...”

“Sure she will!” Anna came out of nowhere and had somehow sneaked up behind her to give her a gently push.

The nudge threw her into the young prince’s arms. With his right hand locked with his left, and his left hand on her waist, she found herself being whisked away to the dance floor. At first, it took everything she had to not freak out and make a scene. She was terrified of what might happen, but as it turned out, there was nothing to be afraid off. Despite the tension and nervousness she felt, her powers weren’t manifesting themselves. Indeed, she did have full control of them. When she began to realize this, her fear subsided to a more manageable level, and she found herself actually enjoying the dance. 

Anna smiled and watched Elsa dance with the handsome young prince from Beiluge. Kristoff joined her by her side; his arms were folded in front of him. “Please don’t tell me that you’re trying to play matchmaker for your sister.”

She looked away. “Eh, not me per say.” She then looked out and gave an excited thumb’s up. 

Across the room, Princess Rapunzel returned her single thumb’s up with two thumbs up with even more enthusiasm. Her smile was intense to the point that most of her teeth were on display. Beside her, Prince Eugene was standing there with a stale look on his face. His eyes were narrow as to say, I want nothing to do with this diabolical little scheme. 

“Right,” Kristoff replied, clearly sensing that the two girls had arranged this ‘chance’ encounter. 

Before he could protest their medling with the Queen’s love life, a cheerful Olaf came wobbling over to the two of them. “I just love wedding parties! They’re so... festive!”

“Oh, Olaf. Just the snowman I wanted to see,” Anna said, using her right index finger to motion for Versa to come on over. The handmaiden obliged, holding something in her hands. “Olaf, this is Kristoff’s and my wedding present to you.”

Kristoff shook his head, still thinking it was a bad idea to feed the snowman’s misunderstanding of Wedding traditions. The two of them had this talk just hours before the wedding ceremony, but Anna was determined to do something nice for the little child-like snowman. 

Versa walked up and knelt down before the small snowman. She wrapped a lovely red scarf around his neck. When she heard what Anna wanted to do for Olaf, she asked if she could be the one to put it on the snowman. She felt bad for what she tried to do to him several days ago, and she wanted this opportunity to show him that she DIDN’T hate him. 

When the jolly snowman saw what she had wrapped around his neck, he gasped with delight. “A red scarf! Just what I’ve always wanted!”

Versa smiled, happy to see the snowman happy with the gift. Before standing up, she planted a small peck on his icy-cold, and wet scalp. The flurry falling from the small cloud over his head tickled her nose, but it was worth it. 

The snowman would have blushed if he wasn’t made of snow. He let out his goofy little chuckle. “Aw, shucks!” he nearly skipped his way through the crowd of dancing couples. “Hey, look at my new scarf!” he commenced interrupting people’s dancing to show off his present, completely blind to the fact that most people were looking down at him as if he was a nuisance. 

“So, may I have this dance, my princess?” Kirstoff offered up his hand to his beautiful young bride.

Anna smiled up at him. “Yes you may, Sir Kristoff.”

She accepted his hand and the two of them returned to the dance the floor. They were quick to rejoin the flow of the movement of all the other couples. They danced like a couple madly in love as Kristoff continued to impress her with his dancing skills that he had picked up during his classes. He moved swiftly as if it had come naturally to him. 

As they danced, Anna had managed to grab a glimpse of Elsa as she danced with her dance partner past them. With the smile on her older sister’s face, she knew that she was enjoying herself. As it turned out... Elsa wasn’t that bad of a dancer. Without the fear of hurting people accidentally, the queen was finally free to open the doors to her heart and enjoy herself for once. 

The two sisters danced the night away on this special moment. On this joyful occasion, everyone in Arendelle partook of the joy the royal family were experiencing on this Wedding day. It turned out to be the biggest celebration this kingdom had seen since before these sisters were even born. With night having fallen, fireworks exploded high above the castle to announce the blessed matrimony of Princess Anna and Prince Kristoff. 

THE END


End file.
